The Companions' Planet
by VivaGrazia
Summary: For an alien race called Versutians, intelligence is valued above all and anyone who doesn't meet their qualifications is generally used as pets or servants. But when Amy falls into the hands of some locals, the Doctor quickly realises there's a worse fate than servitude when you're a 'subspecies' on Versutus. An adventure story based in series 5.
1. Sticky Situations

**Notes (Of course, feel free to skip down and just start reading if you like)**:

Updating: I will update every three to four days, unless specified otherwise. It's nearly completely written so you won't have to worry about not getting an ending.

The Story: It's meant to read sort of like the chapter books the BBC puts out; just continuing the adventures. (Psst... That's my favourite type of Doctor Who story.) So if you miss Amy and Eleven's good old times then this may be the fic for you! It may be a bit darker or with a little extra violence, but I feel like it's nothing the show couldn't handle. It gets pretty dark sometimes, right?

Timeline: It takes place during the adventures in series five after Rory has been taken out of existence, though I don't really touch on that. Unless you want me to, I can probably fit it in.

And lastly, this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest just so you know. Normally they're about 2,500 words. More or less.

**Sorry for my gabbling. Please, enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Amy was definitely used to getting into sticky situations. She wasn't what most parents would probably call a 'good girl' after all, so trouble, not to mention getting out of it, was like second nature to her.

Then there was traveling with the Doctor. Sticky situations sprung up like weeds when she was around him. No matter what they did they would always find some sort of trouble and need to investigate, but in the end it was always OK. As said, Amy Pond had a knack for getting out of trouble. But it could definitely get tiring.

For example, when in a literal sticky situation.

'Doctor, I can't get it off!' Amy shouted, trying to get the sticky webbing off her arms, her shirt, her skirt, her legs... pretty much every inch of her body but the front of her face.

'I can't imagine you would, Amy!' shouted the Doctor from above. 'The Racnoss's web may be a sticky, springy, substance but it has the strength to hold ten elephants.'

Amy looked up at him worriedly. The web was wrapped around him like a cocoon just like her, but unlike Amy he was dangling from the ceiling, swinging back and fourth. Upside down.

'I hope you have a plan, then. Please have a plan. Because you may be stronger than me but I don't think you're quite that strong.'

'Of course I have a plan!' The Doctor yelled back indignantly. 'Well, it's plannish. A plan-like, plan-esque... thing.'

It ended up that the Doctor's 'plan' was getting out his sonic screwdriver, pointing it at some electrical outlet on the wall to make it go BOOM which then released them from the web. The Doctor may have explained it in a more scientific way, but in Amy's mind, that was the gist of it. From there they were able to make their way back to the TARDIS.

'Haha, what good fun!' the Doctor exclaimed as he spun around the inside of the TARDIS. 'Interesting to find a hive of Racnoss on a planet in Andromeda, they're usually native to-'

He stopped short when his eyes landed on Amy's face, which was less than amused. Then he looked at the rest of her: every bit of her had white sticky specks left from the residue of the web, her shirt was ripped and her tights were in tatters.

'You may want a shower.'

Amy rolled her eyes. 'That's it, I'm picking where we go next. Take us to Earth.'

The Doctor's face dropped. 'You want to go home.'

'No, silly. But I've had enough of running from Silurians, dragons and giant spiders for the moment. How about a trip to the beach?'

The Doctor didn't look particularly pleased at this request, but he smiled. 'Why not?'

Of course, this all happened the day before and Amy was happy to have it behind her. After spending a significant amount of time in the water to get the grime from the previous days events off she was sprawled out on soft white sand of a Costa-Rican beach. Well, the Doctor said it was Costa Rica. She suggested the Caribbean, and they would have gone there, but the TARDIS had other plans. It didn't matter to Amy though. A beach was a beach, and if the TARDIS preferred Costa Rica over the Caribbean that was fine by her.

The heat of the day was making Amy feel drowsy. She closed her eyes and may have drifted off, if it weren't for...

'Amy, Amy! Come quick!'

She popped right up at the sound of the Doctor's voice.

'Doctor, where are you?' she asked frantically.

'Over here!' he shouted.

When she spotted the Doctor, who was wearing TARDIS blue swim trunks, she thought it was strange she didn't see him in the first place, as he was standing next to a 8 metre sand-sculpture.

She pointed to the structure. 'The TARDIS?'

'Yes, but a really big TARDIS!' he pointed out enthusiastically. 'And made of sand. Isn't it cool?'

'Uh, yeah,' she said unconvincingly, more bewildered by the fact that he built it so quickly. 'What's that behind it?'

'Ah, yes. Those would be Cybermen.'

'And a Dalek,' Amy pointed out.

'Well they are natural enemies, and two of my biggest ones...'

Amy pondered for a moment why the Doctor would build his enemies instead of his friends, but snapped out of the thought when the Doctor splashed into the water. His head popped up and he waved to her.

'Coming in?'

'Do you ever sit still?' she asked as she walked toward the shoreline. 'Why don't you try relaxing for a change?'

'Because relaxing is just doing nothing when you could be doing something, and there's so much to be done!' He dove back in.

Amy waited for him to resurface before speaking. 'Actually I'd be up for a hike in a bit if you are.'

'Good idea. Rainforests are always fun to explore. Well, not always. Not if you have an army of robotic dinosaurs after you. Let me tell you, even when it's fake, a Spinosaurus is not something to be tampered with.'

'Yeah well, we should probably get changed first. Meet you at the TARDIS? The real TARDIS,' she added sternly when she saw him glance at the sand-sculpture.

Not much later Amy had changed out of her blue bikini and into some green cargo trousers and a grey t-shirt. Not her usual get-up, counting out her brown combat boots, but they were going into the jungle. The Doctor, on the other hand, didn't seem phased by the environment at all, since he was sporting his usual tweed and khaki trousers.

As they walked through the trees the Doctor was explaining all about where they were and things Amy honestly didn't care that much for. She was only half listening until she heard his tone change when he said 'Oh, well, that's interesting, isn't it?'

'What?' she asked, then nearly walked into him as he abruptly stopped, looking up.

Dangling from the treetop was round, empty cage.

The Doctor shielded his eyes from the sunlight as he stared upwards. It looked to be glowing with a light blue colour, but it was hard to tell from so far away. 'I suppose it's poachers, trying to catch some rare animal. Rainforests are definitely host to some interesting creatures, but I didn't think there would be any hunters around this area...' He walked closer to it and lightly touched the tree the cage was attached. He then got his sonic screwdriver out, scanning the area.

The Doctor studied the readings of his sonic screwdriver. 'Oh no. But this doesn't make any sense! They were never known to come to earth...'

'Doctor, what is it?' Amy asked.

She didn't bother to listen for an answer when she thought she heard something alarming in the distance. She surveyed the area behind her, which was mostly just trees. Absent-mindedly she starting walking toward what she thought sounded like talking.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash.

The Doctor shouted in surprise as the cage sprang to the ground, snatched him up and went back to the top of the tree. Amy watched as he lifted himself off the cage ground and onto his knees, rubbing his head, but otherwise he looked OK.

'Oh my god Doctor, how did you manage that?' Amy asked, trying to hide laughter.

The Doctor's head move to the edge of the cage. 'Apparently I activated it. I didn't realise it would start remotely, but I think it uses electro-magnetic-'

'Right, right' Amy cut him off, not really caring to hear the rest of the explanation, 'So how do I get you down? There should be like a pulley or something, yeah?'

'Not yeah. No, to be precise. I'm thinking you need some sort of a remote to control this one,' he said, beginning to examine the trap.

'Oh. Well it's OK if we can't figure it out. We'll just wait for the person who set the trap to come back and they can get you out.'

'That's the thing, Amy. I'm beginning to think it wasn't a human that put this here. In fact, I know it wasn't a human.'

'What, an alien set this trap to catch some Earth animals?'

'They may not just be looking for animals,' the Doctor said ominously. He reached into his jacket to pull out his sonic screwdriver only to realise it wasn't there.

'This what you're looking for?' Amy asked, holding up the device.

'Yes, toss it up!'

Amy threw the screwdriver but it didn't make it anywhere near the Doctor. It came back down and hit the ground a crash.

'Ok new plan!' shouted the Doctor, not wanting to risk his favourite gadget getting any more hurt. 'You'll have to climb the tree and give it to me.'

'What?' exclaimed Amy. 'That thing is huge!'

He paused, thinking. 'You're right, I'll think of something else.'

Amy suddenly started to hear a soft whirring sound, which, to her, did not sound like it belonged in a jungle. It sounded mechanical.

The Doctor didn't seem to notice it though, he was studying the turquoise glowing bars. 'I think I know who set this trap but right now we need to focus on getting this cage open.'

'Fine then. Just tell me what to do!'

The Doctor was about to answer her when he heard the noise. Lifting his head so he could see through the trees, he saw that a hover-truck was coming straight for them.

Amy looked in the direction but was unable to see due to her vantage point. She could hear the noise and it was steadily getting louder.

'Alright, new plan. Amy, run back to the TARDIS and stay there. I'll be back as soon as I sort this out.'

'What? No way, I'm not leaving you.' Amy exclaimed and then began to pointlessly tug on the ropes that held the cage. Surprisingly she found them to be a gelatinous substance, slipping right through her fingers.

'I'll be fine. Everything will go smoother if you're not here. They aren't too fond of humans.' The Doctor explained this to her as calmly as possible, but he could see the approaching vehicle and he needed her to be out of sight.

'I... I can't just-'

'Yes you can. Just listen to me, for once.'

'But-'

'RUN. Go now! You need to get out of here!' The Doctor screamed, sounding more desperate than angry.

Amy jumped back in surprise, turned about, and sprinted into the trees.


	2. Versutians

**Notes:** I hope you don't fine this chapter too tedious, as it's over twice the length of the last and it has a fair amount of explanation due to the main aliens of the story being introduced. Because I created the species, I make sure to include a lot of creatures from the show (new and classic) whenever I can, so hopefully you enjoy :)

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Amy couldn't have been gone more than ten seconds when the hover-truck burst through a bush on the opposite side. It was a clean white colour with black rounded edges, making it look like an apple computer that had been converted to a vehicle. Hovering about a metre off the ground, it stayed fairly level for floating in the air. It was made of two parts like any truck: the front for the driver and passengers and the back for cargo. A tarp covered whatever items were in the back, but the jagged points sticking out made them seem cubical.

When the front doors of the vehicle slid open sideways and two aliens sauntered out the Doctor's fear was confirmed as to who they were.

They were humanoid, but with a a few differences. They seemed to be taller than the average human, both nearing seven feet and their heads looked as though had been stretched out more than most people. Their skin had a greyish tint to it. Each were wearing a blue jumpsuit sort of clothing that the Doctor presumed to be a uniform. Their hair was completely opposite one another: one black as night and the other a bleached blonde. The lighter haired person seemed to have a smaller build and longer hair pulled up in a ponytail, so the Doctor assumed she was a girl.

'Hello there!' the Doctor called down to them as they approached. 'Lovely day isn't it? Bit nippy up here, not that I'm complaining. Actually, I'm complaining a bit. Mind giving me a hand down?' He flashed them the biggest smile he could muster.

'How surprising... seems to be a Speakie,' the blonde said.

'That is odd,' said the one with black hair. 'Our records state their would not be life capable of language for at least another few million years.'

They were right, of course. The Doctor hadn't noticed until he'd been there for a while but it was clear after exploring somewhat with him and Amy's hike that TARDIS had not only gotten the location wrong, but the time period.

'Yes, this would be the... Cenozoic period, I believe.' said the Doctor. Thinking about the creatures that made up that time period, he was hoping Amy wouldn't run into any of them on her way to the TARDIS.

The girl had obviously heard him, as she stared up with puzzlement. But she spoke as if she was just observing. 'Surprising knowledge of our language and aware of the time period.'

The man below him reached a hand into the side of his suit and pulled out a small circular remote. After pressing the device to the tree, the Doctor felt his stomach lurch as the cage dropped to the ground. It hit the rainforest floor with a thud, and the Doctor was soon pulled out as the as the aliens began to direct him toward the hover-truck.

'I take it you're not here for the beach, then?' The Doctor asked cheerfully, seeming not to mind the two dragging him by his upper arms.

Rheia's bright blue eyes regarded him with boredom. 'We're here to collect specimen for testing on our planet.'

'Yes, I thought it may be something like that, judging by the traps. But to be honest I'm surprised you are even bothering with humans; I figured that you'd had enough of them. Not that I'm human, but I'm assuming that's what you thought, '

'We actually don't have much experience on our planet with humans,' Black Hair explained. 'This is the first time in many years that we have been allowed a visit to earth. Many species on our planet are descendants of crossbreed-

'Be quiet, Milo,' Rheia interrupted as the reached the truck. 'We are here to procure specimen for the lab, not explain our planet's history to a Speakie.'

She took the tarp off the back of the truck to reveal glowing blue cages full of different animals from the time period. A sabre-toothed cat, pre-historic horse, and some kind of fur covered pig were just some along with many smaller boxes that looked like they held dirt samples or insects. In front of the full cages were many tiny, empty blue cubes.

'I do know some things already,' the Doctor chimed in as he studied the scene. 'You Versutians value intelligence, correct? Well, I know I may not look it, but I'm quite clever! Not even human actually, a Time Lord.'

'A Time Lord? That is... doubtful,' Rheia said as she rearranged some of the boxes.

'If you give me a chance to prove it to you, I'm sure we can write this off as a misunderstanding.' The Doctor attempted a double handed thumbs up, but it got somewhat lost from Milo clinging to his arms.

'How did you know where we are from?' asked Milo.

Rheia rolled her eyes at her companion. She then picked up a blue cube from the truck and threw it to the ground, where it grew to the size of large dog cage.

'It's your gadgets, overall demeanour, and of course your colouring. I mean you are descended from Inter Minorians, so you still have that grey skin thing going for you. But the black and blonde hair of course sets you apart from them, went off to your own planet with lots of electro-magnetic technology that separates you so much you've evolved into a completely different species! Plus, like I said, I'm clever. I know you guys think you're all that and what not, but going to other planets and kidnapping sentient beings? C'mon, let's be a bit better than that!'

Rheia shook her head with annoyance and looked to Milo. 'Enough of this, just get him in the truck. If he is truly above a level five intelligence he will be released soon enough.'

'Level five?' The Doctor exclaimed, obviously bothered. 'I thought at the most you would have the audacity to test on level threes, but five? Your own intelligence level can't be that much higher.'

But the Doctor said all of this in vain as the two just plopped him in the blue cage they set up for him. Rheia pressed the Doctor's box up against the sabre-toothed cat's, who he was sure if he got close enough to, would have no problem getting a good swipe in at him through the gelatinous bars.

Rheia and Milo headed for the front of the truck, but Milo grabbed her arm.

'What if he really is not human? What if he is over level five?' Milo asked.

'Um, then he gets to leave, obviously.'

'But he mentioned humans... perhaps there are some here! We could have gotten it wrong.'

'They dropped us off in an area not known to have humans for a reason; they want us to focus on the even lesser creatures first.'

'But we are so close. They never said we could not bring them back if they were encountered. It is at least worth a check, right? If not, we can just take what we have.' He shrugged.

'Alright,' Rheia replied, then turned toward the truck. 'Luna, come!'

A rat-like creature the size of a Corgi sprang out of the truck, growling. Her grey fur was long all around her and she had a coarse tail was half the length of her body. Curved spikes moved up and down on top of her head and she had bat-like ears. A white collar that was barely visible hung around her neck through all the fur.

'A Stigorax...' the Doctor whispered, eyes wide. He knew what good hunters they were. Smart creatures, but ruthless.

Luna crawled right up to Rheia. She looked down on her. 'See if you can pick up the scent of a creature we haven't already encountered on this guy, then sniff around and see what comes up.'

The Stigorax nodded, and after sticking her nose into what the Doctor would have definitely thought of as his personal space, she frantically began searching the area. She made such a loud growling noise as she sniffed that the Doctor was surprised he hadn't heard her in the truck earlier.

When she got to the spot Amy had stood for most of the few minutes she'd been there, the creature stopped and looked to her master. She rasped out only a slightly different noise, but it somehow sounded triumphant.

Rheia smirked. 'Good. Go get it.'

The creature made a few more growling noises and ran off into the woods, right in the direction of the TARDIS.

'No!' the Doctor screamed desperately, clinging to the bars. 'Stigorax are ruthless, she'll kill her!'

'This is interesting,' said Rheia. 'Luna would not have registered the human's scent if you were not a different species. Also you claim to be of higher intelligence, is this human your pet?

'I do not keep people as pets,' the Doctor replied angrily, but his face quickly turned to pleading when he looked back at Rheia. 'Please, I'm begging you, call it off.'

Rheia approached the Doctor and looked him straight in the face. 'I think I know my pet better than you do. Luna will track and herd, that is all. She knows what will happen if she doesn't...'

'She sounds more like a slave than your pet, then,' the Doctor hissed.

Rheia seemed agitated by the comment. 'If you think I treat _her_ insufficiently you know less about my planet than you thought.'

* * *

Amy's heart burned in her chest as her long legs darted over the uneven jungle ground. She had started running at a full sprint but was losing steam now that her initial adrenaline seemed to run down. She was determined to keep up a good pace, though, the Doctor wouldn't tell her to 'run' without a good reason. OK, so he did say it often, but that didn't mean it was ever without a good reason.

She wondered if she'd made the right decision leaving him there. He had made it seem that, because he was a Time Lord, they would let him go but wouldn't let her because she was a human. She hoped that was true and he wasn't just making it up to get her to leave. She banished the thought that he wouldn't be able to get away. He would meet her in the TARDIS soon.

Amy reached the forest edge and ran onto the beach, silently thanking herself for choosing, for once, trousers over the mini-skirt.

That's when she heard the growls.

_Oh great,_ she thought. _The Doctor's been captured by some aliens and some jungle cat is coming to eat you._ Forcing herself to glance back, she turned around and saw the menacing giant rat creature.

'Ok, so not a tiger, but not much better!' she huffed.

Common sense was telling her she'd never outrun the creature, but she willed the thought away and ran as hard as she could. The sand didn't help and she hoped it would be causing the creature the same amount of difficulty.

Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be the case as she learnt from a glance behind her that the creature was rapidly gaining. But when she whipped her head back around she saw it: The TARDIS.

She was so close. She had to run harder. Despite her chest threatening to explode, she didn't even know if her legs could carry her any faster.

Then the creature was on her.

It had leapt onto Amy's back and pushed her into the ground. She gasped for breath, trying to lift her face from the sand but the thing seemed intent on keeping her head down. Clawing at it with her hands left it un-phased, no matter how much fur she pulled. She tried to kick it but her legs were too far away and she couldn't flip her body over with the thing on top of her. The creature's growls filled Amy's ear and she felt saliva drip onto the back of her neck.

She closed her eyes, waiting for it to bite down. But it never did. Eventually she opened her eyes. The creature's rat-looking head was right by hers and it kept it's teeth bared. When Amy tried to lift her head it snapped at her, so she stayed down.

They stayed like this for a few minutes, Amy feeling sand fill her lungs from her heavy breathing.

The sound of the hover-craft was faint at first, but the moment it broke the tree-line it filled Amy's ears. She was forced to close her eyes as sand whipped off the ground when it closed in. It wasn't as much as Amy may have anticipated form the machine, but the small sandstorm was big enough to have to shield her eyes.

The vehicle stopped just a few metres away and two figures came out. The thing on Amy's back remained in place as they approached, allowing Amy only to see their sand-dusted boots.

'Good girl, Luna,' a voice said. The moment she did Amy's captor released her. All Amy could see when she lifted her head was two silhouettes, the sun directly behind them. Before she could get herself up, one of them ducked down, grabbing her hair and forcing her off the ground.

Her hands instinctively rushed to her head and she let out a yelp as she was hulled up.

'Oh, she has a nice colour,' the man holding a fistful of her hair remarked.

'Let go of me!' Amy shouted as she struggled to get free. She kicked at them, but even when her legs hit they didn't seem troubled. She stopped moving for a moment and got a good look at their faces. They didn't seem to think much of the situation at all, both of them seemed passive. Also, she noticed, they were grey.

'Calm down, girl. You are going to be fine.'

'This one _has_ to be human,' said the woman.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Amy demanded. At least she tried to sound demanding, but neither answered her.

'Put her in the back before she hurts herself, Milo,' said the woman. 'Come, Luna.'

The rat thing gave her one last growl before going to the front of the vehicle with her master.

'Yeah well, I've never liked Rodents of Unusual size!' she called after it, just before being guided toward the back. She saw all the cages, including one with the Doctor. His face brightened when he saw her, which she thought was strange given the circumstances.

'Amy, you're alive!' he exclaimed, getting up from his sitting position and onto his knees.

'Yeah, but I'm not so sure about this crowd you're hanging out with, these days.'

Milo reached down to pick up one of small blue cubes, pulling Amy's head down with him. She made a small noise of discomfort.

The Doctor's face turned dark. 'Oi, let her go!'

'If I do that she may run away,' Milo said simply as he threw the square onto the ground where it proceeded to grow larger.

'You better believe I'd run away!'

He opened the glowing door and pushed her inside. After landing on her side, she pushed herself up and propped up on the back of the cage. It shrank to just fit her inside. Milo picked the whole thing up with her inside and placed it on top of the sabre-toothed cat cage, with strength that surprised Amy. He finished securing the cage down and walked around to the passenger side of the truck.

'Do you still have the sonic?' The Doctor asked the moment the Versutian was gone.

'Yeah, right here,' she whispered, pulling it out and stretching her hand towards the Doctor. The sabre-tooth cat growled lowly for a small moment she was afraid it was going to grab her arm, but its head remained on the cage floor.

Amy's arm, sonic in hand, hung over the Doctor as he opened his hand. She dropped the sonic and he grabbed it, pulling it into his own cage and starting buzzing about.

'So I know I should probably be more concerned with some other happenings at the moment, such as being kidnapped by aliens and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure these animals aren't from 2010.'

'Ah, yes.' The Doctor didn't look up, but greeted Amy's question with enthusiasm. 'We're sort of... not in 2010. More like pre-historic times. And I'm pretty sure these particular aliens are from quite a distant future.'

'What?'

_'Sixty seconds remaining before teleportation range,' _an automated woman's voice rang out from the front of the truck, and Amy was reminded of the gravity of the situation.

'Doctor, you'd better hurry!'

'Don't worry Amy. I... am... done!' He finished the sentence and the door swung open. The Doctor crawled out. Keeping low so he didn't alert the Versutians, he began working on Amy's lock.

_'Forty-five seconds remaining.'_

The Doctor suddenly stopped his buzzing and began lowering the screwdriver. 'No...'

'Doctor? Why did you stop?' Amy asked, eyes wide.

'It's deadlocked,' he whispered.

'Meaning...?'

'Meaning the sonic won't be able to do anything.'

_'Thirty seconds remaining.'_

Amy gulped. 'It's... it's OK Doctor. It'll be fine. You know where they're going right?'

'No,' the Doctor said decidedly. 'I am not leaving you.'

'If you stay we'll both be trapped! You know where they are going?'

'Yes but-'

_'20 Seconds remaining.'_

'Then you can find me. It'll be a lot easier when one of us is free.'

'Amy, I know what planet they're going to and I can find out the year, but that's it. Problem being that planets are usually pretty big.'

'Oh, you'll figure it out, I know you will.' She smiled warmly, fighting back her fear.

The automated voice began a count down. '_Ten, Nine, eight...'_

'I am not leaving, Amelia.'

Amy saw the Doctor about to go back in his cage. Panicking, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him off the truck.

The Doctor toppled into the sand, rolling to a stop. He looked up at the truck to see Amy trying hard to keep a smile on her face.

_'Three, two, one.'_

The Doctor watched the whole vehicle materialise into thin air.

Amy was gone.


	3. Pets With Perks

**Chapter Three**

The large tracks the hover-truck had made was all that was left on the beach. Plus, one very distraught Doctor.

TARDIS... he had to get to the TARDIS.

'Right, Doctor,' he told himself, shaking his head, 'pull yourself together.'

He ungracefully pulled himself off the ground and headed toward the TARDIS. It didn't take him very long to get there. It registered in his mind that Amy hadn't been very far off when she'd been caught, only making the whole situation more frustrating.

'It's OK,' he said aloud when he reached the TARDIS, patting the door. 'We're going to get her back.'

He walked inside and straight to the centre of the room. Taking out his sonic screwdriver and looking at the readings of the hover-craft he could tell what year it had come from.

'Well old girl, looks like we're going to Versutus, year 5,000,037,756.'

* * *

After the beach dissolved away from Amy, she found herself in a loading dock type of room. The walls were a dark blue and had large numbers and letters on them. Echoes of the hover-vehicle sounded through the space, which was large enough for multiple vehicles to go through, but they seemed to be the only ones in it for the moment. The vehicle had been stopped for about a minute and Amy could hear muffled voices, but was unable to make anything out.

Once they started moving again, Amy realised she had curled up so she was hugging her knees, bringing to her attention how scared she was. She'd tried to look brave for the Doctor but now she was alone; trapped on some planet or spaceship she knew nothing about.

The truck backed up into one of the walls that said A1 and the engine stopped whirring, so Amy assumed they had stopped for good.

A 'whoosh' sound resonated through the now very silent room, followed by footsteps.

Milo and Rheia came into view. When Amy saw their faces her fear dissipated and her face turned to a scowl. Luna made a quick appearance, but briskly walked off in another direction.

Rheia's eyes grew wide when she saw the Doctor's empty cage.

'What the hell happened?' She turned to Amy. 'Where did he go?'

'Oh, are you talking to me now?' Amy glowered, and Rheia was so stunned by the back-talk her mouth flew open.

'Rheia, you did deadlock the door, correct?' asked Milo.

Her eyes grew wide as realisation dawned on her. 'I... I never need to. None of the specimen ever have the technology to get out of our regular locks.'

Milo put a hand on her shoulder. 'Do not worry. If he had that technology it may have meant he was too high of an intelligence to keep anyway.'

She nodded. 'Right. We should get these guys checked in.'

'Checked in?' Amy asked, crossing her arms. 'If you're going to kidnap me, can't you at least tell me where I am or what I'm doing here.'

'We did not _kidnap_ you,' Rheia told her, 'It is impossible to kidnap you, unless you belong to someone.'

'You are here to be studied,' Milo answered.

'Ok, so what about after that? You're just gonna run tests until I die?'

'We do not run fatal tests. The point of this institution is to discover and prolong life, not destroy it. I imagine once they get more humans they may sell you, I really do not know,' Milo said as he opened her cage. 'By the way, you are on a ship, headed to the planet Versutus.'

He extended a hand in to her. Though Amy's first instinct was to recoil, she thought that maybe if she behaved they would let their guard down.

She stepped down lightly from the truck, immediately feeling a sting her neck.

'No! You didn't have to...' Amy slurred, her legs starting to feel like jelly.

'Sorry, girl, just protocol,' she heard Milo say just before her vision faded to nothing.

* * *

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the Versutus soil. If you could call it that. It was much more springy than than earth soil. Smiling, he gave the ground a couple of jumps to test it, then got back to business.

'Hmm... seems to be a city. Though if I remember correctly this planet is mostly industrial, so that's not uncommon.'

Studying his surroundings he thought himself to be in the centre of a rather busy square, circular buildings surrounding him. Versutians were walking quickly form place to place, getting on with their lives. Some of them were followed by a plethora of creatures: Ood, Malmooth, Tivolian, Catkind, and more. They were doing many different tasks, from holding the Versutians stuff for them to helping them with their hair. The Doctor heard laughter and turned saw a full grown adipose playing a small child.

'Pets with perks I suppose...' the Doctor murmured.

'You there!'

The Doctor spun around toward the angry voice as a large dark haired Versutian wearing a dark red uniform stomped up to him.

'Hullo!' greeted the Doctor.

'You look to me to be a pet,' he said with a low, gruff voice. 'What species are you?'

'Uh, no actually. Just thought I'd pop on the planet, see the sites.' He spun in a circle, his arms in the air to gesture around him. 'See that's a lovely, roundish building you have there.'

The man eyed him sceptically. 'You would have gotten a badge at customs.'

'Yes, of course I have, right here.' He held out the psychic paper.

The man studied it. 'This paper is blank...'

'Really?' The Doctor said looking it over. 'Oh yes, the electro-magnetic fields you people tend to use is probably disrupting it.'

'Excuse me?'

'Wrong badge! Just let me go in this blue box for a moment and fetch the right one. Be out in a jiffy.'

The man stared at the Doctor with a puzzled look as he entered the TARDIS.

'Right, well, no need to be out there anyway. Now that I'm on the planet I can access their data from in here.'

He went to the middle of the room and turned on his computer, furiously typing and trying, with difficulty, to ignore the banging on the TARDIS doors.

A blonde Versutian woman popped onto the monitor.

_Dr. Rheia Seeds is the head of the field team at the Doctrina Biological Facility_ read the article next to it.

'Yes, I've found it!' the Doctor exclaimed.

The pounding on the door grew louder. Hopping off the raised floor he went to address the noise.

'Yeah, sorry. Can't find that badge,' he told the man as he held his out the TARDIS door. 'Guess I'll just pop off then. Lovely to meet you.' The Doctor shook the officer's hand vigorously as the man stared with blank expression. 'Cheerio!' The man strained his neck to try and get a peek inside, but was met with the door slamming in his face.

The TARDIS began to take off, making it's signature wheezing noise. The officer backed away from the vehicle in alarm and watched, in awe, as it dissolved into nothing.

* * *

Amy could tell she was laying down on something flat and hard, not to mention uncomfortable. Her eyes felt as if someone was forcing them shut, they refused opening so much. She motioned her arms to rub them and realised she couldn't move them from her sides. When she finally got her eyes to open she panicked, finding herself in a small dark room, instruments lining the edges that resembled what earth used for medical equipment. Her panic doubled when she looked down at her arms and legs which had clasps on them, connecting her to the table she was laying on.

A low groan sounded to her left. There was the sabre-toothed cat, its breath even as it slept on the same type of table she was. Sticking out of its head were many tiny wires.

Curious, Amy shook her own head and felt many small tugs, realising she had been hooked up in the same manner. Her thick hair moved over the wires uncomfortably and she struggled to get them back to the position they were in. Even a couple on her face were now visible.

After moving her head she noticed how nauseous she felt and began feeling nervous.

'Hey!' she shouted, shaking her arms violently and causing the cuffs to make a ruckus. 'What are you lot doing to me? Let me out of here!'

She desperately moved her arms back and forth, trying to get free. Hoping to grab a wire in her teeth, she even began to snap at her own shoulder,.

'Whoa, calm down girl.' Rheia came bustling in, grabbing Amy's arms to try and steady her.

'Stop calling me girl!' screamed Amy in agitation, but she did stop struggling. 'My name is Amy. Amy Pond. I'm not a dog, or a horse, I'm human!'

The blonde sighed, but a smile crept up her face. 'Is there really a difference?' Rheia adjusted the cuffs on Amy's wrists so she was able to sit up without disturbing the wires on her head.

'Of course there's a difference! I'm talking to you. I'm flat out telling you I don't want to be here. You know how I feel and you just don't care!'

'We care, to an extent. We do whatever is possible to make you guys comfortable and happy, so long as it stays within our agenda. You are a sub-species to us; it is just your place.'

'We are not _sub_ anything. Humans have just as much worth as... as whatever you are! We have whole civilisation on Earth, and we built it ourselves.' Amy noticed she may have sounded like an indignant child, but she decidedly ignored it.

'Ants on your planet build colonies and wolves run in packs like family. Yet you kill and capture them for your enjoyment or usefulness. Though you may not be able to converse with them so they may tell you themselves, you expect me to believe that you think they want these things to happen to them?'

Amy glared at her. 'This is different and you know it.'

'Not to me. Not to anyone on this planet. Even the subordinate know that their place is in our care and they often become very loyal. I hope you understand this soon.'

Amy was about to rebuttal when a wave of nausea swept over her. She groaned, letting her head roll back on the table.

'I think I'm gonna be sick.'

'Do not worry about that,' Rheia said, checking a bag full of liquid that was hooked up to Amy's arm. 'We just had to give you something to register the intelligence scan. It will wear off soon.'

She tentatively smoothed out Amy's hair. Was she trying to pet her? Amy wanted to shove her off, but she couldn't focus past her sickness to do anything. She just closed her eyes and waited for the nausea to subside.

It wasn't long before the ship landed on the planet Versutus. Though Amy was in the medical bay when it landed, the resounding thud of the ship touching down echoed throughout the whole ship. Milo came to get her not long after.

'Where are we going?' she asked.

'The Doctrina Biological Facility, in Doctrina City.'

The wires on Amy's head each made a popping noise as Milo removed them, as if they were tiny suction cups. He pressed a small black button near the bag of liquid that had been dripping into her. With a metallic hiss, the clasps slid away from her arms and legs and Amy rubbed at her irritated wrists.

The back of Amy's neck felt the warmth of Milo's hand as he brushed her hair behind her.

'What do you think you're- whoa, big gun thingy!'

Milo held in his hand a silver gun with a tiny square chip at the end of it.

'It is just your identification chip. You will not be bothered by it once it is inserted. It just helps identify your attributes, such as species and intelligence level.'

'What was my intelligence level?' Amy asked, genuinely curious.

'Level four.'

Amy frowned, nonplussed. 'Is that... bad?'

'It was expected.'

He held the point of the gun against her head just behind her ear and shot the chip in sideways.

'Ow!' Amy exclaimed. 'Liar, that really hurt!'

'I said once it is inserted it will not hurt. And does it?'

She rubbed the area behind her ear, feeling the small cube just beneath her skin.

'No, I guess not.'

Amy turned to watch another scientist, whom she had not met, come in to retrieve the sabre-toothed cat. The feline was still unconscious as he did all the necessary unhooking. He then put the animal in a cage that resembled the one on the truck, but the table it was sitting on seemed to be floating. Hovering, apparently. Amy checked under the table she was now sitting up on and realised that it too was hovering.

Her attention was drawn away from the floating tables when she felt a cold pressure on her wrist. It now had a similar cuff that she'd just gotten rid of, only this one was tethered to rather springy looking rope that Milo held.

Amy rolled her eyes, feeling ridiculous. She heard something that sounded almost like a soft breeze and turned to see the other scientist pushing the sabre-toothed cat out of the room.

'There are some benefits to at least being a Speakie. Less cages,' said Milo.

'Oh yeah, I feel so lucky; having my own lead rope is much better. Plus, you're taking quite a chance with this. I bet I could get you to lose your grip,' Amy said, only half joking.

Milo chuckled, amused. 'I am stronger than I look.'

Amy remembered that he had managed to pick up a whole cage with her inside like it was nothing. 'Yeah... I don't doubt it.'

'Alright, come on girl, we should get going,' Milo said, giving the leash a small tug.

Amy recoiled her arm, causing Milo to stumble forward. 'OK, firstly, please stop calling me girl. My name's Amy, and if you don't want to use that fine but stop with the 'girl'. Second, because I _am_ a creature of intelligence and language, just tell me when to go. No need for the pulling.'

Amy couldn't believe she just agreed to do whatever they said, but it was better than looking like a dog on a leash.

Milo grinned. 'Alright. Come on then,' Milo told her, then added, 'Amy.'

She picked herself off the table and led them out of the room with her chin held high.

Eventually, Milo did have to take the lead because he was the one who knew where they were going. The ship had landed on the roof of the facility, so they were only outside for a brief moment, but Amy was able to take in the city.

The buildings seemed impossibly large and wide, all tinted with a light blue colour. They were curved and for the most part circular. The sky was a bright light purple mixed with orange, causing the buildings to seem as if they were shimmering.

'It is beautiful,' Amy admitted.

'I've always thought so.'

'Shame you had to ruin it with the slavery.' She stared at him incriminatingly.

Milo sighed. 'It's not- whatever. I do not have to explain anything to you, _pet_. Keep going.' He gave a violent tug at her wrist and she lurched forward.

'Hey!' she protested, but was only responded to with another pull.

_Guess I took it too far_, she thought to herself, her feet skipping steps as she fumbled to keep up.


	4. Transmogrificationing

**Chapter Four:**

'Perfect. The Doctrina Biological Facility. Now to decide the best way to get inside...'

The Doctor stared at the monitor in the centre of the console room. This currently held the image of the Doctrina Biological Facility, which happened to be just outside.

After his run-in at the first city, he realised the Versutians were obviously not big fans of creatures with similar looks to humans and psychic paper wasn't going to work nearly anywhere on the planet.

Snapping his fingers with an idea, the Doctor dashed to a side corridor. There he saw a chest. Over the years, this particular chest had claimed all the items the Doctor found to be useless to him but could not seem to give away, thinking they may come in handy sometime.

'Good thing I keep you around,' he told the box as the skimmed through it. 'Seems I've been getting a few things out of you lately. Aha!'

He hauled a large, green object out of the rubble. It mostly consisted of large spiral with the tiniest monitor located in the centre that seemed to be just a sheet of glass. Attached to the bottom was an ancient looking keyboard containing not one letter from the english alphabet.

The Doctor pushed the spiral up against the wall and it stuck there, leaving the monitor right in front of him and the keyboard jutting outwards.

He flicked the edge of the tip of the spiral upwards, causing the machine to power to life and the small glass monitor to glow green. He typed the word 'VERSUTIAN' into the old keyboard, producing an image of the creature to show up in the monitor.

'Wonderful! Let's see if you can do the best bit...'

After pressing a few more buttons to initiate the process, another spiral began to slowly extrude itself from the monitor. When it was as large as the one behind it, it stopped growing. The Doctor placed his head inside the open cone it made and rested his chin on the bottom.

A woman's droll voice emitted from the machine. 'Beginning transmogrification...'

The Doctor closed his eyes.

He felt a shot of cold air run down his body from head to feet as a green light passed through his eyelids. A few seconds passed and all at once it ended, the spiral beginning to recoil back into the monitor.

'Transmogrification completed,' the woman informed him.

'Brr!' the Doctor exclaimed, a shiver rippling down his body. 'That's a chilly experience. But worth it, if done right. Let's take a look then.'

He hopped back up to the centre and examined himself in the mirror. What shone in the mirror was definitely the Doctor, as expected, but he had some changes. His hair was jet black, his skin tinted a light grey, and his head was stretched just a little bit more than usual.

'Beautiful!' he declared, rubbing over his and inspecting his forehead. 'Absolutely stunning, how do I not use this more often?'

He squished his cheeks together and gave them a tap, then walked to the door with a skip.

Emerging from the TARDIS he noticed that the city of Doctrina was much like the other city he'd seen, if only for a few moments, which was hundreds of miles away. The buildings were blue, circular, and big; the Doctrina Biological Facility being no exception.

The Doctor walked through the large glass doors and into the lobby. There wasn't much in it but a fountain, the water coming out of it in tiny spheres, and a desk.

At the desk sat a thin black-haired Versutian. She had been doing some sort of computer work, but turned to the Doctor the moment he walked through the giant doors.

The Doctor walked straight up to the desk with unwavering confidence, flashing the woman a somewhat overly cheerful grin. She remained unphased by the look, her eyebrows stitched with scrutiny.

'Can I help you sir?' she asked.

'Why yes you can, thank you for asking, um, Tinka,' the Doctor said as he read her name on the desk.

She smiled slightly and nodded, encouraging him to go on.

'Right. I am looking for a Dr Rheia Seeds,' The Doctor told her.

'Well you have come to the correct place. Do you have an appointment?' she asked.

'An appointment? Oh no, no, never! We're far too close for that. I just have a small scientific matter to go over, shouldn't take but a tick and thought I'd stop by. Figured she'd be back by now, as she was out. A mission to Earth, if I'm not mistaken.'

Tinka held a look of scepticism up until the Doctor said the word 'Earth', in which it faltered for a small moment to shock. She looked around the room as if someone might have been watching her.

'Dr Seeds told you about that?' she asked, nearly whispering. 'The location of their outing was set for level two clearance; even I was not sure where they were.'

'Did I let the cat out of the bag? Silly Doctor, blabbing dear old Rheia's confidential information. I will make a mental note not to tell anyone else,' he said, tapping his index finger on his temple. 'So do you know when she'll be back then?'

'Actually, they have just gotten in. She will probably be overseeing sorting out the new specimen into the facility for a while. Sorry about that. But I can tell her you stopped by, Doctor...?'

'Smith. Doctor Smith.'

'Smith? That is a rather uncommon last name.'

The Doctor nodded in agreement, appreciating the irony. 'Oh yes, definitely. Anyway, thank you for your time!' He turned to walk away, but spun back around on his heel. 'Just out of curiosity, where do you keep your species capable of speech?'

'The Speakies? Level B2, when they are not being tested.'

'Brilliant. Thank you, you truly have been most helpful.'

She beamed at him, obviously charmed. 'You are quite welcome, sir. Though, if you don't mind my curiosity, I also have a question.'

'Oh?'

'What is that around your neck? In fact, your whole attire is something I do not think I have ever seen before.'

The Doctor appraised himself for a moment. 'Ah, just some bits from another planet. But this happens to be a bow-tie.' He rested his elbow on the table and leant in close to Tinka's amused face. 'And bow-ties are cool.'

* * *

'I thought you said no more cages?' Amy reminded Milo as he presented her with her new home, an enclosure with just enough room for her legs, but not tall enough to allow her to stand.

Around them were cages upon cages of excited animals, some even dangling from the ceiling. Most of the creatures were aliens Amy had never seen before. They ranged in size but for most part were on the small side, the biggest being about equivalent to a bear. Despite their differences in colour, size and shape they had one thing in common: they all seemed to be noisy.

'I said _less_ cages,' he stated.' Plus, it is only for tonight. We have bigger, more accommodating areas for our Speakies and larger specimen but it is full at the moment. The other researchers were not expecting us to find you.'

'I guess I was a little out of my time...'

'Our superiors had us land in an area that wasn't known to be populated with humans so we could focus on Earth's other natives. It was the first trip to Earth in a long time. Years. But they never said anything about not bringing humans if we did see any, so we did.'

'What good timing for me,' she said facetiously and crossed her arms with a scowl.

There was an awkward pause, Milo staring at her with both expectance and melancholy.

Amy's natural instinct was of course to add a bit of sass and lip to the situation, but she had pegged this guy as somewhat sappy. Maybe she could get to him by acting helpless.

'I don't want to go in there,' she said softly, avoiding eye contact.

Milo rested a friendly hand on her shoulder. 'I know you don't. I even asked if I could take you to my place, just for the night.'

'You did?' Amy asked. 'Why?'

'Obviously you do not belong here. Tomorrow you can go to the correct habitat, so I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable. But they said it was-'

'Against protocol,' she finished, noticing that they used that word a lot.

'Listen, it is just for one night. I will be back in the early in the morning to get you out and start some tests. By the time you need to go back they'll have a room set up for you to live in.'

Amy knew he meant to sound comforting, but the thought of being tested on and living in a single room for the rest of her life made her feel terribly claustrophobic. Helpless act obviously not working, she thought about making a break for the door. But she knew it wouldn't do any good. What could she do alone on an alien planet somewhere in the future?

_Don't worry, the Doctor is looking for you, _she thought, giving herself enough hope and courage to clamber into the cage. Milo undid the strap on her wrist with a small remote.

After quickly rearranging the pillows that were in the small area, she laid back with her legs and arms crossed, staring at Milo with her best glare. She'd had a lot of practice over the years with people thinking she was crazy and all.

'So, are you going to leave or is this some sort of first night observations I have to deal with?' she asked saltily.

Milo sighed, shutting the door with a clang before waving over it with a small black remote.

'Good night, Amy.' Milo tried to give her a reassuring smile.

Amy didn't feel the need to respond and let her head rest on the side of the cage. She saw the sabre-toothed cat was just about a metre away from her, pacing in its own small space. The big cat seemed to be her only constant companion and she took some comfort in having it there.

She listened to Milo's footsteps leave and fade away, followed by the lights shutting off. It wasn't completely dark, but the room suddenly felt a lot more empty.

Immediately, she began seeking out a way to get out of the bars. If these cages were designed for species with less intelligence, maybe she had a chance. But after a while of feeling around and even trying to use a bobby pin that she had used in the past to open locked doors, she came to the conclusion that she was stuck.

With a defeated sigh, she let her head lay back on the bars. To her side she found a dark brown blanket. Though the room was pleasantly warm, she wrapped the blanket around herself and nestled into it.

The noise of the rest of the animals seemed to calm down a few minutes after Milo leaving and Amy found it surprisingly easy to relax in the dark room.

She refused to sleep at first. But with the only thing to do being to stare at the wall in front of her she couldn't help but close her eyelids, soon drifting into an unnoticed slumber.

* * *

The Doctor was walking through the circular hallways, popping a head in every door he came by, and there were a lot. Luckily, they were mostly vacant, probably due to the late hour. He did have a tactic for when he did see someone though: smile and wave, slowly backing out. Not the best strategy perhaps, but it seemed to work the two times he had to do it.

Unluckily, though there had been many things through the doors including exercise areas, telepathic testing stations, a cafeteria and what seemed to be bounce house room, he hadn't seen any of the live creatures they were holding at all.

'Levels B2 she says. Could have mentioned a room number...' the Doctor grumbled to himself as he walked toward the next door.

He tentatively opened it, greeted by the largest room he'd seen yet. Peering down it he could barely see the other end, which seemed to loop to the left with the circular building.

The room was large enough to hear a faint echo and the sound was that of heavy breathing and snoring.

The Doctor walked inside and heard the door hiss shut behind him. The lighting in the room was low and, like everything else it seemed on this planet, was tinted blue.

He progressed forward into the room and came upon a set of habitats. At least, he thought that seemed to be the best word for them.

They were each about three metres tall by four metres wide and had one clear wall, small holes on that side so it was possible to hear inside the room. Each room filled with what the species would normally live in on their home planet. A cheetah-person was surrounded by the brown grass you may see in Africa while the fish-like Hath had a very damp surrounding.

He walked up to a sleeping Tivolian, a brown mole-like humanoid. She had long grey hair sweeping over her face.

He tapped on the glass lightly, rising the creature. She took a moment to stretch before looking at him. The Doctor waved and smiled, beckoning her over.

She cowered for a moment, then picked herself up and shyly walked up to the Doctor.

'Hello, I'm the Doctor.' he whispered. 'You wouldn't happen to know where a human would be here, would you? She'd be about my height, red hair, slight attitude problem.'

'N-no,' stuttered the Tivolian. 'I've never seen a human before in my life. I don't even know what they look like.'

The Doctor's cheery demeanour faltered slightly at the news.

'Ah, shame. They can be a pleasure. Anyway, what's your name?'

'Sabba,' she answered cautiously.

'How about I get you out of there?'

'Are we going for tests at this late hour? I know you said you're a Doctor, but this is a bit different than we usually do things...'

'I am a Doctor, Sabba, I just don't work here. But I can get you out of this facility.'

Sabba's eyes widened. 'Please don't take me away! I have never been treated so kindly until I came here. They give me such nice quarters as well, just in exchange for a few tests.'

The Doctor's brow furrowed in puzzlement. 'You don't even have to stay on the planet. I can take you back to Tivoli, if you'd like.'

Sabba's face became very sad. 'I havn't seen my home in quite a long time. If I went back there now, I would have nothing. The Versutians took me such a long time ago... but I'm happy here. Please don't make me leave.'

The Doctor put his hand on the glass. 'I won't. Not if that's what you want. Thank you for your help.'

Remembering that Tivolians would welcome invaders to their planet, rather than rebel, he thought maybe the Tivolian was alone in her opinions. But as he asked some others the same question, they gave a similar answer as Sabba.

The Doctor asked a few more people if they'd seen Amy, but none seemed to know what he was talking about. Soon he was just jogging up the corridor, hoping catch a glimpse of her red hair and see her watching TV in some living room type of habitat.

As he reached the end of the room it became clear that wasn't going to happen.

'Where are you?' he whispered, rubbing his head in thought.

Shaking off the doubt that had entered his mind, he walked back the way he came, making sure to double check the habitats on the way.

As he was about to leave, her heard a small shaky voice.

'You didn't find your pet?' asked Sabba.

'She's not my pet, she's my friend. But no. It doesn't look like she's in here.'

'A Versutian with a lower species friend? That's quite odd.'

The Doctor had nearly forgotten his new appearance and was going to correct her, but decided against it. The simpler things were the better this would probably turn out.

Sabba continued. 'But if she's not in this room, it could be she is with the Mutes.'

'Mutes?' the Doctor questioned.

She glanced around herself in puzzlement. 'The creatures that can't speak with language like you and me, your species call them Mutes.' Her eyes quickly appraised the Doctor up and down. 'Are you even from this planet?'

'Haven't been here in quite some time actually. Do you know where they keep the Mutes?' he asked, daring to allow hope into his voice.

'Room 412 on level B4,' she answered cheerily.

'You are even more informative than the woman at the front desk, I could bloody kiss you!' The Doctor then proceeded to press his face on the glass separating them and giving it a big smooch.

'Oh my, you aren't kidding,' said Sabba, and the Doctor couldn't help but notice her take a couple steps backwards.

'Don't worry, you've got your nice wall separating me from you.' He waved his hand up and down gesturing toward the glass. 'Unless... you've changed your mind about coming?'

'No, thank you. I'm really quite happy here.'

'Well, then it was lovely to have met you, Sabba.'

The Doctor beamed at her, and she nodded quaintly. Bolting out the door, the Doctor furiously hoped that his companion had somehow been quiet enough to up with creatures that didn't speak, but he didn't know if that was even a remote possibility for Amy Pond.


	5. Doctor Whom?

**Chapter Five**

Room 412 felt much more cramped than the room for the Speakies. It was also very crude, at least compared to the other room. While the Speakies were individually tailored to so that their area of living matched their own planet, this place only held the small blue cages which held nothing but necessities to living. It reminded the Doctor of human animal testing facilities.

The Doctor felt uncomfortable as he walked through the room. Though most of the animals were asleep, majority of the ones that were not cried out for help, and the Doctor could hear them. The intelligence gap between even the Mutes and Speakies made it clear who was the more valuable pet.

He skimmed the cages for what seemed like ages until he found her.

Curled up in the corner of a cage already to small for her was Amy. Sleeping, she was hopefully unburdened by her current situation. A brown blanket was wrapped around her legs, underneath it her knees looked to be curled up to her chest.

Despite her peaceful appearance, the Doctor felt a rage build up inside him at the sight of her, his fists constricting in anger. He slowly released them as he walked over to wake her up.

She appeared so serene, the Doctor felt a pang of sadness at having to rouse her.

'Amy.' he whispered, gently tapping at the bars. She merely moaned, so he moved over to the side where her head was up against the soft blue bars. He poked his index finger through. 'Amy Pond...'

Her green eyes opened wide with shock, only for a moment before scrutinising the Doctor probing her cheek with his finger. Realisation dawned as to who was there as her face lit up.

'Doctor!' she squealed in glee, immediately getting on to her knees to peer through the bars. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. 'You're... grey? You look like them.'

'Yes, I had a bit of a makeover. Do you like it?' The Doctor asked as he got out his sonic screwdriver.

'Not particularly,' Amy answered as he ran the green light over the cage.

'Good because it's not staying. Down to the important things: Are you alright? Have they harmed you?'

'No. I mean, not really. They've just done a few tests. Oh! They also put this thing in me.' Amy swept her long hair behind her, revealing a blinking light behind her ear. 'It's a sort of mircrochip, I think.'

'That's fine, we'll get rid of it. We just need to focus on getting you out.' He flicked the sonic open and studied the readings.

'The sooner the better, so I can make sure to give you a proper hug! You would so be hugged right now if it weren't for these dang things,' she exclaimed, shaking the bars furiously.

If the Doctor heard her, he didn't show it. His eyes were focused on the open sonic screwdriver. 'These Versutians and their need to deadlock everything!' He turned to Amy. 'How did they lock you in here?'

'A little black remote. He took it with him though.'

'OK, that shouldn't be a problem. I'll be back in just a moment,' said the Doctor as he began to skip away.

'Wait!' Amy shouted, fear evident in her voice. 'Where are you going?'

'There should be a master board that opens each individual cage on the wall,' he explained.

'Ok... but you better hurry up!'

The Doctor nodded, shuffling off past some cages and out of her sight.

A few minutes went by where he didn't return. Amy knew this probably wasn't strange, the room was really large and she had no idea if the board was difficult to find. Still, she couldn't help but feel worried.

All of a sudden she heard the room's door hiss open, then close with a bang. Her heart plummeted. Had the Doctor left her?

A low sound of voices echoed off through the walls. No, the Doctor would never leave her. But someone else had come in.

Their voices were too far away for Amy to make out what they were saying, but she could tell they were whispering. It sounded like at least three people, and from the amount of laughter, they seemed to think the experience was a funny one.

The voices and laughter got louder until there was a loud sound of metal skipping across bars. Amy pressed her face to the cage until her head hurt, and saw that a Versutian was taking some sort of stick, dragging it across the animals cages.

The creatures yelped and hollered in distress and confusion. Amy felt something touch her own cage and she jumped, hitting her head on the ceiling of it.

'Sorry,' the Doctor mouthed, with the lowest possible sound. Pressing a finger to his lips, he gestured that he would be right back. 'Don't draw attention to yourself,' he whispered.

Amy nodded, and the Doctor was off again.

A gnarling and growling that stood out from the rest started getting louder from the opposite direction of the Versutians as Luna rushed down the corridor towards the intruders.

'Aww... look at the little guard doggy.' a low, sinister voice said, making Amy tremble. Despite the low light and that they were still a few metres away, Amy could tell he was the largest of the group.

Luna ran straight for him and leapt while growling all the way. But the man swung the metal bar like a baseball bat, hitting her straight in the stomach. She slumped to the ground, whimpering.

Cruel laughter emanated from the three. They circled around the unmoving rodent and began to take turns kicking it.

Amy watched helplessly in horror, piercing her lips together to stop from crying out. It reminded her of how a group of young boys once beat up a stray dog on her street. She had been able to scare them off then. She thought herself rather intimidating when she wanted to be. But this group, she wasn't so sure.

One of the men separated from the group and Amy realised he wasn't a Versutian at all. Yellow fur covered his body along with black spots and his face was definitely feline. He looked exactly like a cheetah. A two-legged walking, talking(well, maybe), cheetah.

Around the feline's neck was a thick blue collar.

The cheetah-man took the metal rod and began shoving it violently inside one of the cages, causing terrible noises to emit from it.

'Leave them alone!' Amy screamed before she could stop herself, covering her mouth when it was too late.

'Did you hear that?' asked the large man, lifting his grey head up to listen. 'Either someone is in here or there is a Speakie in one of these cages.'

Amy shuffled backwards, gathering her knees in her hands to try and make herself small.

'Here, Speakie, Speakie, Speakie,' he sang, glancing from one cage to the next.

His bulking form stopped just in front of her, his head suddenly snapping in her direction. Small yellow eyes peered into her own, and she could see his face looked like it had been through a great deal of fights. His nose was crooked and there were faint scars around it. His head was matted with a tiny amount of jet-black hair.

'Did you say something, Orangey?' He spoke directly to her, his voice sounding much more intimidating now that he was next to her.

Trying to make it seem as if she couldn't understand him, she thought of her old cat Biggles and what he would do whenever someone had spoken to him. Pretty much, he would just ignore them. So, mimicking what she remembered, she allowed her eyes to look at the man for a moment, then glanced innocently around the room.

'Is that a Speakie?' the other Versutian came up beside him and asked.

'Not sure, Leo.'

'Even if it is not, I bet we can make it squeal.' A crooked smile formed in the corner of Leo's mouth. The bigger man motioned to opening the cage with a remote in his hand that looked just like Milo's.

'Excuse me! What do you think you're doing here?' The Doctor's booming voice filled the room. Overwhelming relief swept over Amy as she let out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

'Lycan, you said no one would be here!' shouted Leo.

Lycan stopped what he was doing and turned towards the Doctor, who had acquired the black uniform that Amy had noticed all the scientists wearing.

'Well, that is what I thought, now keep quiet!' he hissed at Leo, but remained calm. He glared back at the Doctor. 'Now, just who are you?'

'I'm the Doctor,' he said, a serious tone to his voice.

'Doctor whom?' Lycan asked, and the Doctor tilted his head.

'Hm. That would be the more correct way of asking, wouldn't it?' The Doctor mused. Lycan only stared at him, puzzled. The Doctor shook his head, seriousness seeping into his voice again. 'Anyway, as I am a Doctor, who I am doesn't really matter as you're the ones who aren't supposed to be here. If you leave now I won't call security.'

Lycan eyed him up and down. 'There is something strange about you, is there not?'

The Doctor ignored his question, stepping up to Lycan so he was only a few centimetres away from his face. 'Leave, now. Or I'm afraid you'll regret it.'

The two were locked into each other's eyes when Lycan suddenly took a step back. The Doctor thought for a moment that he'd worn him down, but there was an expression of shock on his face.

Puzzled, the Doctor looked around. The other two were staring at him in the same way.

A blur in the corner of the Doctor's eye had his attention turn to Amy, waving her hands desperately in the air. When he caught her eyes she began patting her face. She squeezed her head together with her hands.

The Doctor just blinked, unsure of what to make of the motions.

Then she mouthed the words 'not grey.'

His hands rushed to his face, realising that his head was already back to its normal size.

'Seems that my transmogrification is wearing off.' He laughed lightly. 'Shame, the grey was really starting to grow on me.'

'You are not even a Versutian!' yelled Lycan, ripping the uniform off and revealing the Doctor's tweed and bow-tie. He then grabbed a a handful of the Doctor's shirt, holding it up so that the Doctor had to be on the tips of his toes.

'He looks like that orange girl, sir,' the cheetah-man spoke for the first time, growls ringing from his throat at the same time he talked. 'Maybe they are the same species?'

'Most likely, Dash,' Lycan answered, in a tone that suggested he thought this already.

All of a sudden, with a violent shove, the Doctor was thrown to the floor.

He rolled across the ground before coming to a stop, getting up on his elbows. Lycan slowly walked over to him and bent down on one knee.

'So just what species are you two?' he asked.

'We aren't the same,' the Doctor said in a strained voice from his collision with the ground. 'I'm a Time Lord.'

A hearty laugh roared from Lycan's lips. 'Time Lords are extinct. But please, continue. What is she then?' He gestured to Amy. The Doctor's stare was defiant as he remained silent.

'She's my friend,' he said decidedly.

'That was not my question,' Lycan growled, raising a fist.

'Leave him alone!' Amy shouted.

'Ah, so you can talk. I expected you would speak up eventually, if I threatened your mate.'

'He's not my "mate."' Amy protested. 'Well, I mean he's my friend but we're not, like, together. Now don't you dare touch him!'

Lycan shrugged. 'Sure.'

Hauling the Doctor up by his jacket, the sonic slipped out of his front pocket and clanged to the floor. Lycan picked it and studied it.

'A sonic probe?'

'Screwdriver,' the Doctor and Amy said in unison.

'What are you doing with this? Did you steal it?'

'Oh come on, you Versutians are smarter than that.' The Doctor huffed. 'Does that look like a locally made gadget to you? No. It's mine. _I_ brought it here on _my_ ship. Haven't you wondered why I'm not locked up? I meet your planet's intelligence qualifications, ridiculous as they may be.'

Leo came over with a thick circular device, a red light beaming out of the end of it. He ran it all around the Doctor, then popped his head up.

'He has not been checked in to this facility; no identification chip,' stated Leo. 'Maybe he is a higher species...'

'What about her, then.' Lycan indicated Amy with a quick jerk of his head.

'Simple mix up,' said the Doctor. 'Now if you'll just let me grab my friend here, we can both go our separate ways and hope that neither of us will get breaking and entering charges.'

Lycan laughed. 'But of course. We are not going to stand in the way of a _higher species'_ agenda. We just have to make sure she is not supposed to be here and you can go on your way.'

'What? Wait!' The Doctor bolted for Amy but Dash the cheetah-man held him back. His furry arms wrapped around the Doctor's torso.

Leo came over to her with the black remote. As soon as the door whipped open, he threw his hand inside and felt for Amy, who had backed up as far as possible but it wasn't enough. Grabbing her wrist, he hauled her out and she stumbled awkwardly to the floor.

'Leave her be!' the Doctor hollered.

'Do not worry, Doctor, we are only checking her chip. I can see she has one,' Lycan said as he wrapped an arm around her, pinning her own arms to her sides as she sat on her knees. She struggled against him, but she might as well have been pinned beneath a boulder.

Leo knelt beside them. Amy winced as he pressed scanning device behind her ear, right on top of the raised skin.

A blue light spread out from the device, looking like something from Star Wars. Information popped up along with a picture of Amy. Along with a physical description, it read 'Amy Pond, homo sapien (Tellurian), intelligence level: four.'

'Level four _and_ human?' Lycan stated as a large smile crept up his mouth and he filled the room with a loud, almost sinister laugh. Still laughing, he lifted himself off the ground along with Amy in tow, his arm now wrapped around her neck. 'I am not sure if you know this, but pretty much nobody on this world has ever even seen a human, which makes this very valuable. Not to mention, level four is definitely below our limits.

'You may have been _trying_ to rescue your pet, Doctor, but I am afraid she is going to come with me.'


	6. Callidus

**Chapter Six**

After hearing Lycan's rant, Amy did the first thing that came to mind: sank her teeth down on Lycan's arm as hard as she could muster. He hissed in pain as she felt the vice grip he had on her loosened just enough for her to slip away and sprint down the hallway.

But Dash acted almost instantaneously. He threw the Doctor into Leo's arms and was after Amy in a heartbeat. She didn't have much of a head start and he was already faster than her, so it wasn't much of a chase. She had only gotten a few metres away when Dash's claws dug into her arm, flinging her backwards to the ground.

She landed painfully on her back, the wind knocked out of her. Mouth gaping open, she found it impossible to convince her chest to take in any breath. But after a few long seconds the cold air rushed down her and she allowed it to fill her lungs, followed by some unwanted hacking.

'Right. Because you're basically a cheetah,' she sputtered, coughing. 'You're like, super-fast.'

Lycan's face came into her vision as she stared at the ceiling. Amy scowled at him in hatred. All of a sudden a blinding pain shot through her fingers. His boot was twisting back and fourth on her hand as he pressed her fingers into the ground.

'Ahh!' Amy screamed as she used her other hand to try and pry him off. Seeing it was no use, she braced the pain, closing her eyes tightly.

'Stop it!' The Doctor called out desperately. 'Why are you doing this? You don't have to do this!'

'I am just teaching her a little lesson about running away,' said Lycan and stopped moving his foot, but left it firmly on her hand. Amy let a small whimper escape her. Lycan seemed to think she'd gotten the message and lifted his foot.

She sprang up from the ground, cradling her injured hand. She backed away slowly from Lycan as if testing that he wasn't going to grab her. When she saw he wasn't she ran toward the Doctor. Leo released him as she got near and he embraced her in a hug.

Messy red hair filled the Doctor's vision as they squeezed each other tight. She looked up at him, her eyes dewing with the promise of tears. How brave she must be trying to be to have kept them from falling down her face?

The Doctor glanced around at the three spectators, all wearing bemused smiles. Lycan crossed his arms over his chest. He was only allowing them to have this exchange because it was entertaining him.

'Show me your fingers,' the Doctor told her gently, ignoring the onlookers.

Amy held out a shaking hand. Her fingers looked irritated and were already starting to turn a purple colour. The Doctor looked over it gently, his teeth grinding together in frustration.

'Please, let me see the sonic screwdriver. I have to see what you've done to her,' he asked as calmly as he could muster, trying not to let his anger get to him.

'Your concern for her is touching, really,' Lycan said. 'But not to worry, I will make sure she's fixed up before she goes to Callidus.'

'Callidus?'

The Doctor's question hung in the air as Leo grabbed him and Dash pulled Amy away. Their hands felt for each other's as they were dragged apart but they couldn't get a firm grasp.

'Strap him down over there,' Lycan ordered, pointing to the only hovering table in the room. 'And get a collar on her.'

'A what?' Amy asked as Dash pulled out the same type of blue ring he had around his neck and placed it on her own. It wasn't uncomfortable, it even felt like it was coated in a gel so it was almost soothing to the skin, but she tugged and pulled at it anyway.

At the same time the Doctor was being hooked up the same way Amy had been earlier, and she realised they were probably going to check his intelligence level.

All at once the lights went out, replaced by a blinking red light and a loud, irritating beeping.

'Apparently we have overstayed our welcome,' Lycan said as he observed the room. 'Grab the girl.'

Dash's arms wrapped around Amy's legs and she felt herself hoisted over a shoulder.

'Whoa, literal grabbing. Put me down!' she shouted.

'Amy!' The Doctor craned his neck to see, but the straps were secure and he could just make out her struggling with the Cheetah-man.

'What about him?' Leo asked about the Doctor urgently, obviously worried about the alarm.

'Leave him. If he is over level 5 he will be a pain to deal with anyway. At least we got something.'

Leo scoffed. 'Would have been nice to get more...'

'This female may be the only one of her species on the whole planet. She will be worth more than a pretty penny.' Lycan spat and walked forcefully over to where Dash was waiting by the door. Amy had been pounding on his back with her fists and it was taking a noticeable tole on the cheetah.

'Just give her to me!' growled Lycan, and Dash handed her over.

The moment her feet hit the ground she felt a mist in her face. Eyesight blurring, she lost feeling in her legs and slumped over unconscious.

'Amy!' shouted the Doctor, over and over again. He couldn't help it. He'd just gotten her back, how could he lose her again? But despite his yelling, Lycan simply threw Amy over his shoulder, beckoned his crew and went out the door. All the while laughing.

The Doctor struggled against the straps for a few more minutes before realising it was pointless. Someone would come eventually. And given the fact that this room had live beings, he figured it would be sooner rather than later.

Staring up at the ceiling he listened to the cries of all the creatures and the blaring alarm as he sat in his own silence. He had lost her again, and this time it was worse. At the facility, they may have run tests and kept her locked up but she would be treated well enough. The Doctor had no idea what to expect from Lycan and his comrades.

Abruptly, the red light stopped flashing and the large lights on the ceiling lit up, filling the room. The sound coming from the animals seemed to get quieter once the alarm stopped sounding.

A figure emerged from the door and started looking into the cages, then noticed a mass on the ground.

'Luna!' he shouted and knelt down to her side, gently petting back her ears. The creature gave a soft whimper. 'Not to worry, girl.' He got out a circular remote that looked almost identical to the thing they used to unlock Amy's cage door and spoke into it. 'Rheia, get down to room 412. Whoever was here hit this room.'

The Doctor was trying to keep quiet while the scientist fixed the injured creature, but every moment he waited Amy was getting farther away.

'Hello over there!' called the Doctor. 'I'm sorry to distract you but maybe if you help me out I can take a look at your Stigorax.'

The scientist ran over, taking in the scene. 'What the...' Milo started.

'No time for that. Can you get me out?'

He nodded and began taking wires out from the Doctor's head.

'How did you get in here? Why were you being scanned? And, hang on... are you the Speakie we found in the Earth forest?' he asked as he undid the straps.

'Yes, yes, wonderful questions,' the Doctor said distractedly and popped off the table. 'TARDIS, forced, and yes.'

Running toward the Stigorax, he motioned to get out his sonic screwdriver only to remember that it was gone, taken by the men.

The door at the end of the hall flung open with a swish and Rheia ran in. She didn't break her stride as she slid onto her knees next to Luna and the Doctor.

'How dare they.' she hissed under her breath. When she looked up at the Doctor he saw her expression turn from anger to shock.

'How are you here?' she asked, but before the Doctor could answer her face reverted to a scowl and she gave the Doctor a fierce shove. 'Never mind, get out of the way.' She scooped up the injured animal and turned to Milo. 'I need to get her to the medical bay.'

But Milo wasn't listening, his eyes locked on a screen and mouth gaping open at what he saw.

'Your intelligence level is a nine!' he exclaimed.

'What?' Rheia asked in disbelief.

'So it would appear. Would have been nifty to be eleven...' the Doctor said wistfully, staring at the monitor.

Rheia shook her head, seeming to try to remove the distraction, and headed for the doorway. 'I'll be right back.'

The Doctor turned to Milo. 'Anyway, important matter at hand: Amy has been taken.' The Doctor knitted his brow. 'But not by you guys, this time.' he added.

Looking behind him to see her vacant cage, Milo sighed heavily. 'Of course they would take her, she's probably the most valuable living thing on this entire planet right now. They must have found out we acquired a human...'

'By the sound of surprise in his voice when he read she was, I'd say not.' The Doctor eyed him sceptically. 'Would you expect him to get the information?'

'Well, we have had break-ins before,' Milo explained, scratching the back of his head nervously. 'It appears to always be the same group. They usually steal some Speakies and sometimes even harm some of our other specimen, like it appears they did today.'

'This has happened before and you didn't think to get new security measures?' the Doctor asked in disbelief.

'Of course we did! But they always seem to know exactly what to do to bypass them every time we upgrade, as if someone is telling them the information. The police will not help us, and I just _know_ it is because of the agreement they have with the fights. Most of the Speakies the group steals end up in Callidus.'

'They mentioned that earlier. What is it?'

'It is a game, if you could call it that. Creatures are put through tasks that test their intelligence or physical abilities. Bets are made as to who will win,' Milo explained.

'And the police do nothing?'

Milo shook his head. 'No. It is unofficial, but it is becoming clear that they are in some kind of agreement. The games are widely advertised but have never been shut down or even raided.'

All of a sudden the door flew open just as it had before. Rheia's eyes were locked on the Doctor as she walked toward him with purpose, her face screwed up in anger.

The Doctor felt her hand grip his neck as she pinned him up against the wall.

'Is it OK to beat up defenceless creatures where you come from? Is that why you were on Earth in the first place?' she demanded.

'Rheia!' Milo exclaimed.

'Ironic you are asking, because your 'defenceless creature' was used to to help you _capture_ Amy and me,' the Doctor sputtered. Despite having his airways being blocked somewhat, he managed to sound calm.

'We were not trying to hurt you, and _especially_ not for fun!'

'Rheia! He did not hurt Luna. He was locked up when I got here.'

She blinked, staring at the Doctor. Then slowly she lowered her arm. The Doctor straightened his bow-tie, and tried to give her a reassuring grin.

'Though, I suppose he did break in in the first place...' Milo added.

'Ah yes, but I wasn't going to steal anything or anyone. Just take back someone who happens to belong to no one. Except herself.'

'Why would they hurt Luna?' Rheia suddenly asked quietly, looking down.

'Why would anyone? They are just sick; any Versutian who has anything to do with those games is,' Milo told her, giving her a somewhat awkward, but still comforting, pat on the back.

Rheia seemed unconvinced, staring downward in thought. There was a moment when no one spoke, and the Doctor ended the silence with a clap of his hands.

'Well, I think it's time to have a chat with these authorities. Seems a good place to start,' the Doctor said. 'I'll just be leaving then.'

'Wait!' Milo ran to the area near the table to the Doctor had been strapped to. After pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, a badge printed out from the top of the monitor. He grabbed a scanner and ran over to the Doctor.

'You should take this,' he said, handing him the badge. 'It shows that you are of high enough intelligence to be considered a higher species.'

The Doctor took it, examining the paper to find a picture of himself. Under species, it said 'unknown.'

'Also, this.' Milo grabbed the Doctor's arm and turned it so his wrist was facing upward. Scanner in hand, he placed in on the Doctor's wrist so a blue light shown onto it. When he took the device away something that resembled a bar code remained like a tattoo.

'Ah, clever. To make sure I'm not an imposter,' The Doctor observed.

'Right,' Milo said, smiling. 'Listen... if you need any help, I would love to try and help you get Amy back.'

'Milo!' shouted Rheia.

'Of course!' exclaimed the Doctor. 'You can help me navigate the area... like a tour guide! Love a good tour guide. Well, sometimes. Actually in most of my experiences, they're pretty dull. But, maybe you'll break the mold.'

'Er, Ok?'

Rheia stepped in front of him. 'Milo, what would be the point of this? Even if you rescue her, this... man would not let her come back to the facility. She would just be taken back to Earth.'

'I know.'

'Well why help then? You have no emotional attachment. She is not your pet.'

'The way I see it, she may has well be this man's pet. He claims that they are friends and that means their bond is only that much stronger. It is the least I can do to help find her after taking her.'

Rheia sighed. 'I think this is foolish, especially if you talk to the police. Both them and the underground will have you on their radar then. But, I will not stop you.'

She moved to the side, unblocking his pathway to the door.

'Right,' the Doctor said with determination. 'If you're coming, it's time to move.'

'I am.'

'Well, follow me!' He began to set off toward the door, then paused and about faced, stopping Milo in his tracks. 'You wouldn't happen to know where the equipment cupboard on B2 would be, would you?'

'Yes, I do,' said Milo curiously.

'Ah, good. Maybe you should lead then.'

'Why do we need to go there anyway?' he asked.

'That's where the TARDIS is.'

'And what is that?'

'My ship! She's brilliant, you'll love her.'

'Right.' Milo eyed the Doctor sceptically, his expression making the Doctor wonder if he was beginning to doubt the scans of the intelligence test.

Milo took the lead. As they headed toward the door, Rheia called to him.

'Be careful!'

Rheia gave him a worry engraved smile, to which Milo returned with a small wave, the Doctor quite a bit bigger of a wave, and they were out the door.


	7. Companions

**Chapter Seven**

You know that odd feeling you get when you're going to sleep and you feel as though you're falling, so your body just kind of jerks yourself awake? What Amy was feeling was something like that, except no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wake up.

Amy's grasp on reality was faltering as she switched back and forth between a feeling of floating and falling. But when reality did shine through it was clear that she was merely laying down somewhere, until she felt someone's arms wrap around her, lifting her into the air.

She managed to lift apart her eyelids for just a moment and an orange sky flashed in her vision before she closed them again.

'Oh great. She just opened her eyes,' said a voice.

'Where are we?' hissed a rather inpatient, more gruff sounding voice.

'Your place...'

'Right. So why should we care if she wakes up now?'

Amy couldn't quite grasp the situation, but this guy's voice made her nervous.

'Anyway, she should be pretty dazed for another hour or so.'

Her mind drifted off and suddenly she wasn't in anyone's arms, she was laying down again. No longer floating, her head felt like someone had hit it with a frying pan. She preferred the floating.

Something pleasantly warm and wet brushed on her forehead, almost coaxing her to drift back to sleep. But a feeling in her gut told her that wasn't a good option, and she managed to remember what was going on.

Versutians. Doctor. Captured on an alien planet. Oh, right.

Her eyes sprang open. Less than a metre in front of her, a little too close for her liking, was the face of... a giant cat.

Actually, after further examination, Amy decided it looked more like a kitten. Its eyes and ears were too big for its body, which was a grey colour with tabby marks. The middle of its face and the tips of both ears were splashed with white and it had two pools of bright light blue for eyes. He was wearing the same collar she and Dash the cheetah-man wore.

'You're awake!' he said gleefully, his voice definitely that of a child. Then his mouth squished together nervously. 'You looked cold. So I've been wiping your face with a warm cloth, I didn't want to ask for a blanket... How do you feel?'

Amy sat up from what seemed to her a poor excuse for a bed and rubbed her temples with her index fingers.

'Um, headache.'

'Oh. Are you hungry? I have crackers here.'

He hopped up next to her, holding a box that contained what looked to Amy more like biscuits than crackers. She decided to try one, finding that she had been more hungry than her stomach was leading her to believe. It wasn't until the the sixth or seventh one that she noticed they had a strange flavour to them.

'What are these, exactly?' she asked.

'Fish crackers. I think they're made of natan.'

'What's that?' she mumbled, her mouth full.

The kitten giggled. 'You don't know what natan are? They're only like, the most common fish ever! You must be from another planet, just like the masters said.'

Slightly disconcerted from the fact she was eating an unknown animal, Amy gulped the cracker she had in her mouth quickly and set the one in her hand down on the bed.

Her eyes moved around the room. They were in a small room with one lamp. The thing Amy was sitting on looked like a bed, made out of slightly soft material, but there were no blankets or even sheets covering it. A tiny room to the side resembled a lavatory, but the toilet was definitely different than Earth's design.

When her eyes got back to the cat she saw he was grinning at her.

'What's your name?' he asked, tilting his head curiously.

'Amy Pond.'

'Amypond! That's a funny name for a pet, or anyone really. Did your mum name you that?'

Amy chuckled. 'Not Amypond, they're separate. Amy is my first name and Pond is my last name. And sort of, my mum named me Amelia, I just shortened it to Amy.'

The kitten stared at her. 'That's confusing, Amy-Pond-Amelia-Amy.'

An amused smile crept up Amy's mouth. 'You can just call me Amy.'

'Just Amy, got it,' he said with a quick nod of confirmation.

'What's your name?'

'Patches!' he exclaimed, and Amy had to suppress laughter at hearing such a generic cat name.

'That's... adorable,' she decided.

'Thanks! My mummy would have named me something else I guess but my owner's son picked that out,' he told her. Amy frowned at that, but Patches didn't seem too upset about it.

'Where's your mum now?' she asked.

'Back at my old place. I got bought about a few months ago.'

'So you never get to see her?' Amy asked sadly, and Patches shook his head, his smile now definitely gone.

Amy wrapped her arms around the kitten's shoulders and squeezed him in a warm hug.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered, pulling him tighter.

'It's ok,' Patches said. 'Technically, this place is nicer. Mr Lycan has much more money than my old owners. Plus Livy is a really sweet girl; we have fun.' He lifted up his mouth in a one-sided smile.

'Wait, who's Livy?' Amy asked.

'Mr Lycan's daughter.'

'That guy has a daughter?' Amy asked incredulously. She looked at her bruised fingers, deciding not to try to move them just yet. 'He seems so mean...'

'He scares me too,' Patches agreed. 'But he's never mean to Livy. He's actually nicer just when she's around! I hate it when she has to go to school.'

'Don't you go to school?'

Patches giggled. 'No way! Pets don't go to school. Do they where you come from?'

'Well no, but we don't keep pets that talk. So they wouldn't understand what we were teaching them anyway.'

He nodded and his face scrunched up in thought, about what Amy wasn't really sure. All of a sudden he looked at her with a cheerful expression.

'But you're here now! And you seem super nice.' He knitted his brow worriedly. 'You are staying, right?'

'To be honest, I'm hoping to escape,' she told him quietly. 'And, though I'm so not into being a damsel in distress, there is someone out there looking for me.'

'Really? Who?'

'My friend. He's called the Doctor. We get in situations like this all the time, but he always finds a way to get us out of them.'

'Wow,' Patches whispered in awe. 'Where would you go?'

'Home. Earth, I mean. That's where I'm from.' She smiled, almost nostalgic. 'You could come too. I mean, maybe not Earth in my time, but you wouldn't have to stay here.'

Excitement flashed across his face, but it quickly dispersed.

'I... I wouldn't know where to go.'

'The Doctor would find a place for you,' she assured him.

But that was assuming the Doctor found them at all. Amy knew she shouldn't doubt him, but she couldn't help feeling a little bit of dread in the situation.

Distracting herself, she hopped off the bed and glanced around the room.

'So what's the deal, are we in the dungeon or something? I mean... we are locked in here right?'

Patches bounded off the bed as well, but to her surprise he stood up on his back two feet.

'I've never been in this room before now so I don't really know what it is. It probably does lock, every room here does. It isn't right now though...'

A jolt of excitement ran through Amy at the thought of using some free will. She may not have exactly been free, but it was the most free reign she'd had in the past day and she wanted to make good use of it.

'Well, I want to have a look around then,' she said, heading for the door.

'No!' cried Patches, grabbing her wrist. An audible hiss escaped Amy's lips and Patches quickly pulled away his paw.

'I'm sorry, I didn't realise...' he said looking at her hand. Then his eyes snapped up to her face. 'But please don't go out there! I'm supposed to tell Mr Lycan when you wake up, but I want to wait until Livy gets home.'

Amy hesitated. If Lycan didn't know she was awake yet, maybe she could find a way out. But for all she knew, he could be waiting just outside the hallway and she didn't want him to take out his rage on Patches if she were to get caught.

'Ok, I promise I won't,' she told him and he sighed in relief.

'Thanks, Amy.' He eyed her hand again. 'If you want, I could dress that for you. There should be a first-aid kit in the washroom.'

'That would be great.'

'Sure, be right back!' he said with enthusiasm. Amy watched the little ball of fur run into the room next to them eagerly.

'So fixing up a hurt hand is something to get excited about here...' she said out loud to herself. 'I wonder what they do to have some real fun.'

* * *

When the Doctor showed the TARDIS to Milo, it was to no surprise that he uttered the words that he enjoyed hearing ever so often.

'It is bigger on the inside!' he shouted, laughing like a schoolboy at the prospect.

'Yes it is. And I'm guessing you know how it works...?'

'Basically a different dimension, correct?' The Doctor nodded from where he was leaning up against the side bar. 'We have got time travel down but this is just brilliant! No wonder Time Lords are a level nine.'

The Doctor allowed a small smile to take residence on his face, but wouldn't let it linger too long. Not until Amy was safe and sound.

'What level are most Versutians?' he asked curiously.

'Level seven. Allows us some padding between us and the companions.'

'Companions,' said the Doctor in disbelief. 'You call them companions?'

'Well, generally, companion is the term we use for Speakies who are more of like... a friend to someone, not just workers or unattached to anyone. But we do use it to generalise about all Speakies sometimes. It sounds better than pet, does it not?'

'I certainly hope so...' the Doctor muttered under his breath.

'Right, so shall we be going?'

'Yes we shall!' The Doctor sprang away from his position of leaning and toward the centre. 'To the police station!' he shouted as he flicked a lever and kept his hand going by shooting a finger up toward the ceiling. The TARDIS rumbled to life.

Despite the distracting motion of the vehicle, Milo eyed the Doctor, questioning but amused.

'Do you say that every time you go somewhere?'

'No. Actually I was just trying it out. No good, eh?'

'I mean, whatever floats your boat. Sounds a bit like a, er... what does Earth call them... a super-hero.'

'Oh no, no, no, we don't want that. Bit ridiculous. I shan't do it again.'

Following the usual wheezing sound the Doctor was ever so familiar with, the TARDIS appeared outside the Doctrina Police Station. Yet another circular building, it didn't seem as large as the others that surrounded it. The Doctor thought it gave the building a look of inferiority, which wasn't something most would probably like there law and justice system to be described as.

The Doctor and Milo went inside, marching straight up to the front desk. There seemed to be a lot of people standing around, not too much notable bustle happening.

'Slow day?' the Doctor asked the man at the front desk.

'Yes, actually,' he answered, scrutinising the Doctor's appearance. He was going to have to get used to getting funny looks on the planet. Not like he'd never dealt with similar situations.

'I'm here to see the man or woman in charge!'

'That would be me.'

The voice came only a few metres away, its owner now striding toward him. He was not the biggest man, but the air around him told the Doctor he was a force to be reckoned with. He had short blonde hair and was wearing the generic red uniform as all the officers, except his uniform included a large badge on the front.

'I'm the head officer. Can I help you?' he asked.

'I do hope so,' said the Doctor. 'I'm here to ask about the games, Callidus, or whatever you'd like to call them.'

'Why, you worried you might be entered in the next one?' he said with a sneer, obviously mocking the Doctor's appearance. The Doctor could hear chuckles from officers surrounding them and Milo shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.

'Ah yes, very funny. But as you can clearly see from my badge I'm of high enough intelligence for your standards,' said the Doctor.

The Versutian narrowed his eyes, reading the badge. Then they grew wide. 'You are... a level nine. I have never seen that before.' He looked at the Doctor with curiosity ablaze in his eyes. 'What species are you?'

'Not important, I'm actually rather in a hurry.' The Doctor wondered over to the desk, picking up a stray pen and fiddling it in his hands. 'Like I said, I'm curious about the games. What information do you have on them? Or more to the point, where are they?'

The head snorted. 'If I knew where the games were, I would have infiltrated them weeks ago. Anyone who has lived on this planet for some time know they are the largest criminal workings we have. As the police, of course we are trying to shut it down.'

'Well, I happen to be new here. Just got in today, in fact. My... companion was stolen,' the word tasted funny in his mouth, he knew it would be taken differently to these people. But that is what they should think in order to help him anyway, he supposed. 'I think she may have been taken to games. Care to give me any pointers?'

'Sure, one: she is gone. We do not know where those games are, nor do we have any information that would be useful to your search. Even if we did, we would not be telling a tourist our valuable information,' the man told him. 'If you like though, we can take a description of your pet and post it on the server.'

'That won't be necessary,' the Doctor said, returning the pen he'd been handling to its original position.

'Sorry we could not be of more help,' the chief said with a shrug.

'Yes, I'm sure you are.'

The Doctor about faced and began walking toward the door. Milo followed close behind.

'Well that was unhelpful,' said Milo just after they exited. No more than two seconds later, the door opened again.

'Wait!' yelled a voice. It was the man from the desk, running outside to catch them.

The man's eyes shifted from side to side, checking the area. He then leant in close to them.

'Look, we know more than what the chief told you,' he whispered.

'You don't say,' said the Doctor, not even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice. He had laced his fingers behind his back and leant toward the man to hear his low voice.

'I cannot say much, but here.'

He offered a small, folded piece of paper. The Doctor took it in his hand with a snap of his wrist.

'What is this?' asked Milo.

'The location of the games. Good luck, I hope you find your pet.'

The Doctor internally groaned at the word, but smiled in gratitude. The man took off toward inside and the pair took a few more steps away before The Doctor opened the paper. On it was written a set of numbers.

'Where is it?' asked Milo.

'I'm not sure, these are coordinates. I'll be able to enter them into the TARDIS. Let's go.'

When they stepped out of the TARDIS it was nearly too dark to see anything, but the Doctor could make out that the area they were in was a narrow passageway. The air felt damp, as did the area around his shoes.

'A sewer?' questioned Milo.

'Seems to be,' the Doctor replied. 'Interesting place if you were planning on inviting people to it, but I suppose they do also want to keep it a secret.'

'I can barely see.'

'I have torches in the TARDIS. Hold on just a tick!'

The Doctor retrieved a torch for each of them, and soon the hall was lit up. There wasn't much to see. It had small smooth walls with a low amount of water flowing through it.

They began making their way down the corridor, squelching through the muck. After only about five minutes of walking, rather undramatically, the hallway ended in a wall.

'That's odd...' said the Doctor.

'Mhm,' agreed Milo. 'It should lead out to a larger water source.'

'If we were really in a sewer, that's what would happen.'

'But you think that may not be the case?'

As if on cue to answer the question, a low growl that that sounded almost like a sick goat echoed through the cavernous area and crept up to the Doctor's ears. Milo next to him visibly shuttered. Both their heads spun around to watch the apparently empty area they had just come from, but they could hear something sloshing through the water, and both of them knew it was only a matter of waiting before they would be spotted.


	8. Feel Free to Panic

**Chapter 8**

Amy had felt instant relief as her hand was being covered in a gauze-like material. Patches had coated it in some sort of medicine that had helped the throbbing go down immensely, making the bandage nearly the only reminder that there'd been pain at all.

They chitchatted as Patches worked, but when he wasn't speaking his tongue crept out of the corner of his mouth as he scrunched up his cheek in concentration.

All of a sudden Amy felt Patches paws freeze and saw his oversized ears perk up. Then she heard it too: footsteps.

Before they had time to react, the door burst open. It was the Versutian that had been with Lycan at the facility.

'Playing doctor, are we?' Leo asked. He shot a glare at Patches and Amy felt the cat shrink down beside her. 'She looks to be awake. Were you not supposed to come tell your master about that?'

'Y-y-yes, sir,' he stuttered. 'I just wanted to dress her hand, first.'

'That was not your order. My brother will here about this,' he hissed, causing a small mew to escape Patches.

Amy's mouth opened to ask about the brother situation, but she was sidetracked as Leo began walking forward. When he advanced on them she instinctively stood up in front of Patches, holding his paw behind her.

'Oh, always nice to see pets bonding. But not to worry, I am here for you, not him.'

That hadn't really made Amy feel much better, but her look of defiance toward him didn't falter. He grabbed her good wrist, the one holding on to Patches, and shoved her out of the doorway. She had just enough time before being forced out of the room to glance over her shoulder at the cat. He remained on the bed and his expression was blank, but his ears were set on the back of his head. Amy knew from being around cats on earth that was not a good sign.

She was roughly taken through the hallway, his hand giving her small nudges in the direction she needed to go. She realised she was glad for the shoving instead of being picked up or thrown over her shoulder and nearly laughed at the thought, since it was quite an unconventional thing to be happy about.

The hallway they walked down was a desolate grey with nothing on the walls, making Amy almost positive the room she'd been put in was the equivalent of a dungeon. After being hustled up the stairs, the room she was now in gave the house a completely different light.

It was decorated almost completely in gold, making it look like the inside of one of those old wealthy churches. There wasn't a snippet of the room that didn't have adornment on it, most of which was just patterns or maybe symbols Amy didn't recognise from this world.

Her observations were cut short when she felt a fierce push was the middle of her back.

They walked across the large decorated room and Amy could see through an open archway another smaller, but equally ornamented, room. Inside were Lycan and Dash, but she could also make out other figures. At least one Versutian, plus another creature.

Lycan's eyes lit up when he saw her and he rushed out of the room. Just before she was about to enter, he grabbed the top of her arm, pulling her to the side.

'You better behave in there; we are trying to give off a good impression,' he told her.

'Oh, right. I wouldn't want to make you look bad. I'll be a perfect little angel,' Amy said, than made a circle over her head. 'See my halo?'

Lycan's eyes narrowed. 'You will, if you care about your own good,' he said, but she stared him down defiantly.

'By the way, Lycan,' began Leo, 'she has been adjusting so well. She and your cat-kind seem to be hitting it off.'

Lycan smiled and turned back to Amy. 'Oh I see. Well, then it would be in his favour as well if you were to behave, if not...'

Amy was shocked, but only for a moment before turn to anger.

'He's just a kid! Don't even think about touching him.'

'I should not need to, assuming you do everything we say in there,' Lycan said. 'That includes not threatening your superiors. Speak only when spoken to, and say 'sir' whenever you address a Versutian.'

Amy's mouth popped open to retaliate, but thinking of Patches, she knit it shut, seething.

Lycan smiled triumphantly as Leo opened his arms in an inviting gesture toward the doorway. Rolling her eyes, Amy walked in and stepped to the centre of the room.

It appeared to be the foyer of the house, according to the large door and window showing the outside. There was a thin, circular stairway that led to the next floor, which was much higher than most two-story homes. But it also had what seemed to be a fireplace and a couch, causing Amy to believe it was also used as a sitting room. On the couch was a Versutian. He was thin, but not necessarily weak, with long blonde hair that swept past his shoulders. He was almost like a grey Orlando Bloom from Lord of the Rings.

He was more formally dressed than anyone she'd seen so far. His outfit resembled a business suit, if they had large round balls on the shoulders. He also had a pattern of squiggly lines in the black fabric that were made of gold.

Next to him was a rather ugly alien, with tentacles running down his face and holding a small glowing orb in a navy blue baggy outfit. He was standing completely straight, squinty eyes staring at Amy as he tilted his head. Around his neck was a thin blue collar.

'So this is the human?' said the Versutian in a smooth voice. He looked to be somewhat older, but he had aged well, and Amy could see how another Versutian may find him handsome.

He rose of the couch and began circling around her, inspecting.

'What is your name?' he asked her.

'Amy Pond,' she replied after a moments hesitation and through gritted teeth. Sighing, she added, 'Sir.'

He reached for her uncasted hand and she quickly pulled back at the touch. Lycan coughed, drawing her attention. When she saw him, he was leering at her.

It was a threat. And she knew it wasn't only to her, but to Patches as well.

With another heavy sigh, she relinquished control of her hand, allowing the man to pick it up. He turned it around in his own thin hands, flicking it back and fourth for the tentacled alien to observe.

'No claws, Tibby,' the man remarked.

Without warning, Amy felt her lips pushed apart by Tibby's thumb and index finger, which were hidden under a black glove. Tibby turned her head for him so he could inspect her teeth.

'No fangs, either. And only a level four... not the most impressive specimen, but not the worst,' said the Versutian as her mouth was released. 'She will make it through the first couple rounds but does not have a prayer of winning.'

'I know, Virgil,' Lycan replied. 'But she is extremely rare, so once she loses we can auction her off.'

'If she is not killed,' noted Virgil, his tone implying he did not care which it was.

'I have high hopes she will not be.'

'Still, it is a good idea to keep her here instead of the games,' said Virgil. 'As you said, she is valuable. If anyone learnt of her species I have no doubt they would try to take her. In any case, we should make a large amount of money on bets from her. No one has seen a human in so long they may think she can do more than... well, practically nothing.'

'Hey, I'm right there you know! And humans aren't worthless. To be honest, you people don't seem to be any more clever than us from what I've seen so far, just a heck of lot more cruel!'

Amy hadn't meant to lash out. She really hadn't. But she was being judged and ridiculed on behalf of her entire species. If she didn't speak up, who would?

When she saw Lycan, she thought his eyes may pop out of his head, and his face was turning from the normal grey hue to a light purple. But he stood still.

Amy had stepped up to Virgil in her anger, but he closed the space between them so their noses were nearly touching. She'd expected him to hit her, or throw her to the ground, but he only smiled.

His eyes turned downward.

'What happened here?' he asked, pointing to her wrapped hand.

'She was out of line earlier,' Lycan spoke up before Amy had the chance to answer.

Virgil chuckled, as if enjoying an old joke.

'Spunk. You will need that where you're going.' His face turned from smiling to a sympathetic frown. 'But you don't even know where you are going, do you?' he asked.

Amy realised his tone wasn't sympathetic, but pitying.

'You see, humans did not even have the chance to evolve. They crossbred until there were none left, and now you are just a little simple minded thing from the past that happens to entertain higher beings. Oh, you can be useful in small ways. But your species will never be able to have the knowledge to use magno-electronic technology or apply calculus to situations by the time you are eight years old. You are lucky to learn one of those things by the time you are in your old age, while many of us can develop skills such as telekinesis by the time we are 70. And that dear, is why we think so little of you and your race. It is also why you have not seen us be 'clever', because it is in our daily lives where your tiny mind can barely notice it.'

As if having a slow reaction to be offended Amy stood there a moment or two, stunned, before scrunching up her face in a look of resentment, nostrils flaring.

Virgil lifted his hand as if to pat her hair, but she flung her own hand up and batted it away. Her _injured _hand.

'Ow!' she shouted, clutching her now burning fingers.

The whole room laughed at her, including Dash, who as a pet she thought may not find it as funny. Only one being in the room remained quiet: the tentacle-faced creature that continued to stare at her curiously.

Amy bit her lip, trying to hold back tears of humiliation as she watched the visitor head toward the door, followed by his pet.

'I look forward to seeing the next games you can put her in,' Virgil said as he exited. 'Oh, and change that name before you bring her. An old earth name will not fit in with the rest.'

His words stung Amy like a slap across the face. Her _name_ was no good? She wasn't sure why she even cared what he thought of her, but she did.

'Of course,' Lycan said. 'Thank you Virgil.'

The door shut. Amy remained in the centre of the room, staring at her feet. Lycan laughed in glee, slowly clapping, his hands slapping together one burst of sound after another.

'Ah sweetheart, that was terrific!' he said, putting an arm around her shoulder. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, but made no move to get him off, feeling utterly defeated. 'Normally, you would be in some trouble for not listening to me, but Virgil seemed entertained enough.'

'Would you like me to take her back to the room, sir?' asked Dash.

'Yes, that would probably be best,' Lycan said, walking away from her. As he turned, something flashed in his pocket that caught Amy's eye.

'Wait!' she shouted, running back toward him, embracing him in a hug. 'Don't make me go back there... it's dark. I really don't like it.'

He grabbed her arms and pried her off of him. With a violent shove, she collided with the cheetah-man.

'Take her away, Dash.'

She only struggled for show, and the moment she was out of his eye line she caught herself smiling, despite everything.

In her hands was the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and though she wasn't sure it would work it was hope, and that was all the solace she needed.

* * *

The Doctor and Milo were both frozen in place, waiting. There was nothing else to do. They could try to run back to the TARDIS, but that would mean going straight past whatever was making such a menacing noise. And without the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor's felt empty and unprepared. He merely braced himself, flexing his fists in anticipation.

'There's really no need to panic,' whispered the Doctor. 'It could be harmless.'

Milo nodded frantically and strained his face into a smile for a moment.

What rounded the corner was what the Doctor put as a seven on a scale of one to ten on how bad it could have been: a Shrivenzale.

The creature that looked like a bulky crocodile thumped toward them, its thick legs making huge splashes every time it took a step. His mouth was gaping open as he walked, the two teeth on the top and bottom that jutted out of the its lips pointed right at them.

'Ok, feel free to panic. That's not too good,' the Doctor said, his thin eyebrows raised.

'You know what it is? We have never had one in the lab.'

'That is a Shrivenzale. I saw one once, it was being used to guard something.'

'How did you get away?'

'Bit of luck, really. Running and hiding mostly.'

'Oh, wonderful.' Milo threw his hands up, exasperated.

The creature snapped its mouth, slowing creeping closer.

'Erm... OK, plan! I distract the creature so it moves to one side while you run past it, then you make some noise to give me a chance to get away,' said the Doctor, motioning dramatically with his arms as he explained his plan.

'This area is way too small, that will never work.'

'Right, right.'

The both observed the area, looking for anything that could help. After a quick scan of the ceiling, both yelled: 'I know what we can do!'

'I'll hoist you up-' began the Doctor.

'And I'll grab those things on the ceiling!'

As if in decoration of the drab place, there were cone shaped thingamajigs (as the Doctor thought of them) hanging off the ceiling like stalagmites in a cave.

'They're going to be pretty difficult to get a grip on,' the Doctor pondered quickly, aware of the creature's approach. If it wasn't for the water slowing down its steps, it surely be on them already.

'I am fairly strong, and I would rather test it on some hanging rock than that thing.'

'Right. Hop on.'

The Doctor knelt down and the Versutian clambered onto his shoulders. He unsteadily stood, having to walk a little closer to the Shrivenzale in order to be close enough to the first cone.

Milo grabbed it, lifting himself off the Doctor's shoulders and pulling his feet up to his chest. Then, like some crazed child on monkey bars, he sped from one cone to the next without hesitation. As he passed over the Shrivenzale it craned its large mouth upward, snapping at Milo. But he held his legs too far up and passed without a problem.

The creature seemed to think it was too much of a bother to turn its body around, ceasing its momentary pause and continuing its path toward the Doctor.

'Doctor!' shouted Milo, waving his arms from the ground, far down the hall. 'Keep it busy!'

The Doctor gave him a thumbs up, but wasn't exactly sure how to keep it busy for too long.

'Um, hello!' called the Doctor to the creature as it neared him. 'I'm the Doctor. I would actually be much obliged if you could not eat me.'

The creature growled loudly, not ceasing its movement forward.

'Well I understand you're hungry. Oh, you only have small rodents to eat usually? I'll admit, that is a shame. I myself prefer fish fingers and custard, but I can see how I may be appetising to you. Thing is, I quite like me and would rather like if I remained intact.'

The Shrivenzale bared its teeth, looking about to strike.

'If you're so keen on eating me, why not dinner and a show?'

The Doctor started to hop from one foot to the other, waving his hands widely in the air to make the most dramatic movements he could muster. This did seem to distract the creature for a few seconds, as it closed its mouth and watched in puzzlement.

Suddenly a loud shouting rang through the incommodious space, almost as if it were a battle cry.

Charging toward them was Milo. The only thing was, he seemed to be unarmed. The Doctor had hoped he'd think of something clever to do once he was past the creature, some way to call it backwards.

That was actually what happened. As the Shrivenzale seemed threatened, it kicked up its legs in rage and began trotting back the way it came. Milo ran toward it with an even greater momentum.

They were going to collide, and Milo was going to be ripped to pieces. The Doctor panicked. Running in bounds and leaps over the water, the Doctor reached the creature and picked up its dense tail, giving it a good tug.

It moaned, reaching its head backward to snap at the Doctor. But the Doctor held on to the tail and soon they were spinning around in a dance, the Doctor dodging the jabs of its jaws.

'Doctor, move out of the way!'

The Doctor looked up to see Milo, but he could now also see what he was brandishing on his hands: a small blue cube. He leapt backwards, narrowly missing the Shrivenzale's teeth.

'Oi, over here!' called Milo, but it was no use. The creature was identifying the Doctor as the primary threat now, its eyes locked on the prey.

'Throw it!' The Doctor shouted when he couldn't think of another option. Milo gave him a sceptical look, but seeing the direness of the situation, he flung the cube. It sailed over the creature and the Doctor caught it perfectly. He held it in his hands triumphantly as the Shrivenzale advanced.

'Just another moment...' the Doctor told himself, grinning. When the creature was only a few paces away, he threw the blue object to the ground.

Immediately it expanded. The Doctor heard the Shrivenzale screech in shock, trying to skid to a halt before reaching the cage. But the floor was to slippery for the speed it had been running at, and he flew right in.

The Doctor brushed his hair back, stood up and adjusted his bow-tie.

'Well, that worked like a charm,' said the Doctor. He nodded toward the blue cage, now holding the yowling creature. 'Where did you get that?'

'I brought a few on the Tartrus-,' said Milo.

'TARDIS, but go on.'

'Oh, the TARDIS.' He looked down, an almost shameful expression on his face. 'Well, I brought a few on there in case we had to infiltrate the games to get Amy. I thought that maybe, well...'

'You thought you could pick up a few extra specimen for the lab,' the Doctor finished for him.

Milo nodded. 'Right. I mean, most were stolen anyway, some even from the facility!'

'Look, I'm not angry,' said the Doctor. 'I understand that that is how this planet functions for the time being, for better or worse. I'm hoping that soon it will be a little better, and maybe I could even give you guys a helpful nudge. But right now my primary focus is on finding my companion. And those creatures would be better off at your facility, I'm sure of it. I spoke to some of the Speakies in your lab and they are treated very well.'

Milo smiled in relief, laughing and sighing at the same time. Then he sobered, pointing at the Shrivenzale in the container.

'So, how do you think we came to run into him?' asked Milo. 'Maybe this is one of the holding areas for the contestants of the games...'

'No, I don't think so. This area is too large for that, they'd have a lot of creatures they'd need to keep contained at the games. But it is also too small to be a sewer, it doesn't go anywhere. No, I think someone was trying to get rid of us.'

Milo's befuddled expression changed to one of disbelief with a simple raise of his eyebrows.

'You cannot be serious! The police told us to come here. Our law enforcement!'

'And you're the one who said in the first place that they're crooked.' The Doctor tapped Milo on the nose as he passed him, beginning back toward the TARDIS.

'Yes, like covering something up. Not sending people to their deaths!'

'Well, we were snooping, they needed to get rid of us. And what better way than to send you down into their pit with a flesh-eating creature? Bit of an investment if you ask me, might as well use it.'

'Speaking of which, what are we going to do with the creature?'

They reached the TARDIS, and the Doctor turned toward Milo before walking inside.

'Does the Doctrina Biological Facility have a pick-up service?'


	9. Quiet as a Mouse

**Chapter 9**

Amy sat in the dungeon like room. She was lying on her stomach in the almost-not-a-bed bed, playing with her fingers nails, which were so short from nervously biting and picking at them she could barely tell them apart from the skin. Abruptly she stopped picking, realising she may have need of her fingernails if her plan went awry. They were pretty much her only weapon in a plan that wasn't really much of a plan.

Basically, what she had was a sonic screwdriver, tucked away in her boot for the time being, and she couldn't use it until nighttime. If she just burst out through the house during the day, there were enough Versutians and companions hanging about that someone was bound to see her. She could only hope Lycan wouldn't miss his new toy before then.

But that wasn't the only issue. She also had no idea when it would be night. They had brought her a meal and she wasn't sure if it was lunch, dinner, or just afternoon tea. The only thing she had to go on was that a few hours ago Patches told her Livy was at school. If Versutian schools were anything like earth's, that would have put her at morning to early afternoon. So she knew she had a little to wait.

She'd been hanging her head upside down over the edge of the bed, her feet kicking the air in boredom when she heard noises outside of the door. Turning herself over, she made sure the sonic was secure in her boot and watched the entry way, sitting on her knees on the bed. The door swung open.

'Oh my gosh,' said a high pitched voice. 'She is so pretty!'

A moment later Amy found herself being wrapped by tiny arms. A small blonde Versutian girl looked up at Amy as she squeezed tighter. By her voice and looks, she couldn't be more than seven years old. At least, if Versutians looked similar to humans at that age.

'Uh, hello there, I'm Amy,' she said, giving the girl an awkward wave through the embrace.

'And you sound so cool!' she squealed, squeezing Amy more. 'Daddy, how could you dare put her in the games? She is too dainty!'

Amy was about to say she was not and would never be 'dainty', when another word, 'daddy', registered. Amy looked to the door.

Sure enough, there was Lycan, leaning on the doorframe, his lips curled up in an amused smile, but not in his usual menacing way.

'She should do alright,' Lycan assured his daughter.

'Can she play with Patches and me daddy?' She leant her head on Amy's shoulder, hug still in progress. 'Please? Pretty please?'

'That may not be the best idea, sweetheart. I said I would show her to you so you can help me think of a name, that was all.'

'I promise we will only stay upstairs... I will keep a good eye on her!'

He sighed. 'You know what? Go for it hun. Make good use of her while she is here.'

'Yay!'

Now only holding on to Amy's hand, Livy bounced with glee on the bed, Amy's arm forcibly going up and down with her.

Amy sighed wearily at the sheer amount of energy the kid was displaying and the thought of having to partake in it. But it would hopefully ensure her being away from Lycan, which meant less of a chance of him noticing the sonic screwdriver.

Lycan chuckled at the sight, then walked away. 'Take her upstairs, Livy!' he called from the hallway.

'OK daddy!' she yelled back, then looked to Amy. 'What are these?' she asked, poking Amy's cheek repeatedly. 'Whiskers? Patches has whiskers. But you can pull Patches'!'

'Um, my freckles?' Amy guessed, her eyelids squinting and fluttering from the pokes.

'I guess.' She shrugged. 'Never seen them before. It looks like someone coloured on your face!' She froze, her face lighting up. 'Oh my gosh, we should go colour!'

With that, Amy was yanked off the bed by the tiny girl and led upstairs. Patches was waiting in what Amy could only assume was Livy's room. Pink seemed to translate to the Versutians as a prime little girl colour.

Actually, a lot of the things Livy did seemed at par with Earth. They coloured. Livy did Amy's hair, painted her nails, and picked her out jewellery with matching accessories. But then there were things that weren't quite the same. Such as playing with the anti-gravity system Livy had installed in her bedroom.

'Wee!' Livy shouted, spiralling through the air, the frills from her outfit floating. Patches wafted through the air as well, mimicking a swimming motion. He collided with Livy and they grabbed each other's arms, laughing and twirling as if they dancing.

Amy was trying to sit on Livy's bed but that wasn't an easy thing to do at the moment. She floated back and fourth just above it, using her hands to try and anchor her down while also swatting at her drifting hair to keep it in check.

'Come on, Amy!' Patches shouted to her through his giggling, holding out a paw. Livy nodded eagerly in agreement.

'Not really my thing,' she replied, amused.

'Amy, I want you to come over here,' Livy said, her voice still playful but the sentence was definitely a command.

Amy didn't want the little girl angry, she may alert her father. So with a kick, she soared off the bed and toward the tiny couple. Livy grabbed her uninjured hand and Patches gripped the area above the wrappings on her other, leaving the trio whirling through the room.

Amy couldn't help but giggle at the feeling in her stomach as they flew threw the air. She almost didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was having fun. And so was Patches, his whiskers dancing on his face as he laughed. Maybe this wasn't too bad of a life for him after all.

No. Freedom, especially with your parents at that age, was still better.

'So, what about Freckles?' Livy asked Amy out of the blue. 'Since those are the things you have on your face.'

'What?'

'For your new name. Would that be fierce enough?' Livy questioned. 'Daddy says it has to be fierce. Dash got his name because he is very fast. What are you good at?'

Amy blinked, slightly unsure of how to answer. 'Well, not much really. Kissing, maybe. But that doesn't matter. I'm not changing my name.'

They were now slowly spinning in a circle, no one really moving but the momentum from earlier leaving them in a steady rotation.

'You have to do what my dad says. He is the one in charge, of all of us.'

Amy crossed her arms. 'He can call me whatever he wants, I just won't answer to it.'

Livy didn't seem to hear Amy, her face drawn in concentration. 'What about... Scorch? Because your hair kind of looks like fire.'

'It does!' agreed Patches. 'What about Salsa?'

'Patches!' Amy complained. 'Don't encourage her.'

'You're going to get one anyway.' He shrugged. Amy rolled her eyes.

'Why Salsa?' asked Livy with a giggle.

'Well, it's red and it hurts my mouth, so I thought that could be fierce!'

Without warning, a shout came from downstairs. 'Livy!'

All three of them flinched when they heard Lycan shout.

'Yes daddy?' she yelled in response.

'Did you finish you schoolwork for today?'

Her eyes widened and she knitted her eyebrows together worriedly.

'Yes, of course!' she shouted back unconvincingly. Well, it didn't sound too convincing to Amy. But when there was no reply from Lycan, she assumed he bought it.

'He's going to have some trouble in the teenage years...' Amy mumbled to herself.

'I have to do that right now!' Livy whispered urgently to them. Her little grey legs pushed against the wall, propelling her to the bottom of the room where she flicked the anti-gravity switch.

Both Amy and Patches yelped in surprise as they dropped to the ground with a thud.

'Oh, sorry!' Despite concern in Livy's voice, she couldn't help but giggle.

'That's OK Livy!' Patches said, lifting himself off Amy who was now face down on the ground.

'Yeah, totally OK. I don't need my face anyway.'

Livy tapped her lip anxiously with her finger. 'I should probably take you back downstairs first, but then daddy will know my schoolwork was not done...'

'No need,' assured Amy. 'I won't go anywhere. Plus, I'll be quiet as a mouse.'

'What is a mouse?' Livy asked.

'Oh. It's an animal, on earth. It's really small and sometimes they come in houses- never mind. I'm just going to be quiet.'

Amy made herself comfortable on a lounge chair while Patches wondered from place to be place, from scratching on a scratching post to colouring. He told Amy that because he was Livy's companion, this was where most of his stuff was and where he slept.

She observed the Catkind and noticed that he would sometimes walk on two feet and sometimes on all four, but most of the time when he was standing it was on two feet.

Livy sat at her desk doing schoolwork. But it wasn't like any work she'd seen a primary school kid do before, or anyone for that matter. She had a whole setup at her desk in which she had to wear goggles and headphones. Amy didn't have the faintest clue of what she was actually doing.

All at once, there was a loud bang. Amy looked towards the bedroom door, though the sound had come from downstairs so she obviously couldn't see anything. Patches' ears were twitching.

'Someone's come in,' he said, perking up his ears a little higher. 'And they sound angry.'

Livy hadn't moved, her back still facing them as she continued her work. The headphones were doing a good job of noise cancelation.

Curiosity seemed to hit Amy more than the cat this time as she crept over to the door.

'What are you doing?' whispered Patches.

'Seeing who's here, duh.'

He shuffled to her side as she was about to open the door.

'Why?'

'It could be the Doctor. You know, the friend I was telling you about.

Patches nodded, but worry was still adamant on his face. He peeked behind himself at Livy, oblivious to their movements. Amy opened the door.

The voices coming from the foyer were instantly audible, not being too far away. The Doctor was definitely not who had come in as it was a woman's voice. But to Amy's surprise, it did sound familiar.

'What the hell were you thinking?' asked a female voice. 'Coming into the facility and stealing the only one of a species on the_ entire_ planet.'

Rheia.

'Whoa, that was never a discussion. You give us the entry codes, we take what we want, we leave, and you get a cut,' Lycan's voice echoed through the giant room. 'No one gets blamed.'

'Yes, you take what you want of species we have studied! It should make no difference to you, they all have the same capabilities, even after our tests.'

'Except the price on this one is a little bit higher than the rest, is it not? If I let you keep her, by the next time I came there, there may have been dozens of humans on the planet, and she would be worth just the same as all the rest.'

Rheia didn't seem to hear him at first when there was a pause, but then she spoke.

'Why did you hurt Luna?' Another pause. 'My Stigorax.'

'Oh, that? We were just having a little fun.'

'She is my pet. My companion!' growled Rheia angrily. 'She was close to death when I found her. You were not even supposed to be in that room, there are normally only mutes anyway!'

'Just blowing off some steam. We were browsing for candidates somewhat- hang on.' Lycan's volume dropped, and Amy strained to hear. She walked over to the steps and was able to see the two of them. 'Did you put the human in there so we would not see her?'

'Of course I did. Why give you the temptation?'

The sound of Lycan's clapping rang through the hall. 'Clever!' he shouted enthusiastically. 'But I do not like being tricked.'

'It was not a trick. Merely planning ahead.'

From the top of the stairs, Amy found herself beginning to make her way down the steps. One down, three, five...

'Amy, no!'

The voice behind Amy startled her and she turned her head around abruptly. Peeping out of the door was Patches, beckoning Amy to come back in by waving his hand.

Amy shook her head. She was learning too valuable of information. Turning back to the scene, she was startled Rheia looking directly at her. Amy's bright, long hair had probably been like a flashing beacon, flipping it back and forth to talk to Patches.

'There she is!' shouted Rheia, pointing up the staircase. Lycan turned as he followed her finger and his expression was definitely angry by the time it landed on Amy. 'Amy, come here girl!'

Amy stood still, caught like a deer in headlights.

'Oh, on a first name basis, are we?' Lycan chided.

'You do not understand,' Rheia said. 'There is someone looking for her and his intelligence level is higher than I have ever seen.'

'The Doctor?' Amy's hope-filled voice squeaked.

'Yes,' Rheia replied, nodding up to her. She looked back at Lycan. 'I think it might be wise to just give her to him.'

'Nope, not going to happen. I am not just _giving_ away my most valuable possession. Now, get down here.'

Realising that he was talking to her, Amy snapped out her shocked state and moved into the foyer. Lycan jerked his head to indicate for her to stand behind him. She did as he said, hoping if she kept her head low she could still use her the sonic to get out later that night.

'I am trying to help you,' explained Rheia. 'I would not want this man after me.'

'If he really wants her, he will make sure he is the highest bidder after the games.'

'I think he would not want her to play at all.'

'Well, it does not really matter what he thinks. She is going in, she is already signed up and advertised for tonight's games.'

'But-'

'You are not taking the human, Rheia, now let that be the end of it!' Lycan growled.

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, then Rheia sighed sadly.

'I think I should be going,' she said.

'That is probably a good idea. We will be in touch about the next change in security details. You can see yourself out, I presume?'

'Yes, thank you,' she mumbled.

'My pleasure.'

Amy watched Rheia head toward the door, then cowered slightly when Lycan turned to loom over her.

'Move,' he said, giving Amy a small shove between the shoulders so she fumbled over her boots.

The buzzing filled the hall. It was a brief noise, but clearly heard. Amy froze.

'What was that?' Lycan asked.

Amy stood still with her eyes squeezed shut, but she pivoted to face him. She didn't know what to say. Her eyes looked blankly forward while her mouth dangled like it had become unhinged.

'Oh, that was just my hover, I was unlocking it,' Rheia said quickly.

But Lycan wasn't buying it. He glared at Amy, and without taking his eyes off her, felt in his shirt pocket where the sonic screwdriver had been. His eyes scanned Amy's body and were twice as big by the time they reached her shoes. The tip of the sonic was sticking out, clearly visible.

Thinking quickly, Amy grabbed the screwdriver from her shoe and held it high above her head. She slammed her thumb down on the button and hoped something would happen. When nothing did, she pressed the buttons over and over until the lamps above her flashed and sparked, breaking their containers.

Lycan and Rheia both covered the faces from the falling debris, but Amy took her chance and booked it past them to the door. After a moment's hesitation Lycan was hot on her trail.

Amy's legs carried her as fast as they could, but she knew was running in vain. There was no way he wouldn't catch her.

All at once, a mangled, screechy meow rang through the air.

Amy turned and had to grasp her mouth in shock at what she saw: Patches clinging to Lycan's back, claws digging deep into his shoulders and mouth biting hard into his back.

'Patches, stop!' Amy shouted, terrified of what the repercussions would be for him.

Lycan growled in anger. Then, grabbing Patches firmly by the collar, Lycan pried him off his back and threw him at Amy's feet. Amy immediately knelt down to inspect him.

The now bloody faced Versutian approached the pair menacingly slowly, seething with every step.

'You two... are in a great deal of trouble.'

Patches was shaking in Amy's arms, his eyes tightly shut as he buried his head into her. A low repetitive mewing emitted from his mouth. Amy gripped him tenderly as she watched Lycan's hands descending on them.

But then they weren't. Lycan fell to the ground with a thump, his face landing only centimetres from them.

Amy's eyes wondered to Rheia, lowering a blaster that only a moment before had been pointed at Lycan. Rheia looked at them, an almost crazed smile spreading wide across her face.

'I think we should probably get going.'


	10. May I Be Frank?

**Chapter 10**

'This is pointless!'

The Doctor was pacing agitatedly around a small cafe as Milo ordered them food at the counter.

'Everyone has to eat.' Milo shrugged, but the Doctor waved him off.

'Actually, _you_ have to eat. I could go on a while longer. But that's not what I was talking about anyway. I meant this whole wild goose-chase in the first place. No one is willing to tell us where the games are!'

Milo picked up a tray full of food, and they went to sit in one of the many circular pods that filled the 'open 24 hours' cafe. The door to the pod closed shut and the transparent sphere turned white, leaving them inside their own private room.

With no other leads, the pair had spent the day wondering around the city and asking where the games were. People were either disgusted by the question, or wary of answering.

The Doctor was aware he was becoming emotional, which sometimes lead to irrational thinking. He needed to stay focused.

'I'm sorry, I know you're helping me the best you can. Maybe I am just hungry.' He poked at the food.

'May I be frank, Doctor?' asked Milo.

'You can be Joe and Mark as well, if you like!' He chuckled, but Milo just blinked at him. 'Yes, go on.'

'I think we may be having issues because of your appearance. The people who just seem reluctant to talk... maybe it is because they have never seen anyone like you before.'

The Doctor smacked his hand to his forehead. 'Of course, why didn't I think of that? I mean, half the people we've run into thought I was your pet at first.'

'Well, after we eat I can go out alone and keep asking,' Milo said, biting in his sandwich. A purple gooey substance seeped out of the side as he did.

'Right.' The Doctor stared at the food Milo bought him. 'Still, I can't help but think there's a better way to go about this. If I had my sonic screwdriver I could at least scan the area...'

A shrill beeping abruptly began emitting from Milo's pocket, and he reached inside to bring out the device he'd used to release the Doctor from the laboratory table.

'A multipurpose remote mechanism?' asked the Doctor, reaching for the burger-type food.

'Yeah. MRMs are quite common around here.' Milo pointed to the beeping device. 'A message from Rheia. Do you mind if I...?'

The Doctor waved his hand casually as he bit into his sandwich.

'Not at all!'

Milo clicked a button and motioned to put the phone to his ear, but the sound it made was loud enough for even the Doctor hear. Had they not been in their bubble, the Doctor was quite sure the whole restaurant would hear it.

The device dropped to the table with a clang, Milo covering his ears on instinct. Though the Doctor's ears were throbbing as well, he reached out and picked up the device, drawn by the sound it was creating. He inspected it casually.

A hand shot out and grabbed it from the Doctor, switching it off.

'Why did you not turn it off, Doctor? That noise was painful!' Milo shouted, rubbing his ears. 'I wonder what the hell that was, anyway.'

The Doctor held the device to his eye-level, pondering.

'I'm not sure why it was happening, but that was, without a doubt, the sound of my sonic screwdriver.'

* * *

'Come on,' Rheia panted. 'He will be up any moment.'

Amy sat on the ground, staring up in utter disbelief at the scientist.

'What are you doing?' Amy asked her.

'Getting you back to your friend. Now is not the time to ask questions!' she added when Amy opened her mouth to say more.

Rheia helped Amy and Patches up, shuffling them out the door and into the brisk evening air. There was barely any light left in the sky.

'What about Livy?' asked Patches sadly.

'You attacked him, Patches,' Amy explained hastily. 'Who knows what he's going to-'

Amy stopped short. From inside the house, new voices were approaching.

'Go!' yelled Rheia. 'I will distract them.'

'How?' Patches asked.

Rheia opened her mouth but was at a loss for words.

'Tell them I shot him.' Amy said quickly. 'I grabbed the gun from you, then we escaped. No one can blame you then!'

'Are you sure?' asked Rheia.

'Of course! Least I can do after what you did...'

'OK, fine. But you have to go now!'

'Thank you,' Amy said sincerely. She received a grim smile in return, then she and Patches were off.

Rheia watched them run across the front lawn into the night. They were just out of sight when Lycan's cheetah pet and Leo showed up.

'What happened?' demanded Leo as he ran up to Lycan, Dash had grabbing Rheia by the shoulders.

She feigned anger. 'It was those two Speakies! The human grabbed my blaster and shot Lycan! Good thing it was set to stun.'

Leo nodded at the cheetah, who released her. 'Pick up their trail, Dash. They cannot have gotten far.'

'Yes sir.'

Dash ran out of the door at once.

'You hurt, Rheia?' asked Leo.

'No, I am fine, just a bit shaken up. I think I will leave though. I am very sorry about this.

'Not your fault. That human is wild.'

'Yes, apparently she is,' Rheia agreed. 'Think you will get her back?'

'She has nowhere to go and eventually Dash will catch up to her. So as long as no one picks her up, we should be able to.'

Rheia nodded, her head drifting off to the side. There was an awkward silence while no one spoke, until eventually she said good night and left, leaving Leo to help Lycan himself.

She walked out to her hover hastily, getting her MRM out of her pocket as she did. She needed to call Milo right away to get Amy off the streets before it too late. But her MRM wouldn't turn on. She pressed all the buttons, but it wouldn't respond.

'Amy's device must have done that...' she whispered to herself.

Rheia hopped into her hover and engaged it. There was a familiar sensation in her stomach as it lifted off the ground to life and she entered the co-ordinates to her lab in the automatic movement system. Once there, she would be able to contact Milo about Amy, just hoping she wouldn't be too late.

* * *

They barely had time to scan their surroundings before bolting away from the house. Patches ran on all four paws, causing him to stride ahead of Amy. This turned out to be beneficial as Patches was familiar with the planet.

Though Lycan's estate was huge, they were still in a large city and the surrounding buildings dwarfed it. Despite the size of the house, it still seemed strange to have a single residence in the middle of such a large city.

Amy didn't dwell on the surroundings, just keeping one foot in front of the other and her eyes on the grey blur that led her.

Patches skidded to the halt on a street corner, his eyes darting back and forth nervously as he caught his breath.

'Why'd do you stop?' Amy huffed, resting her hands on her knees.

'Can't we rest?'

He sat back on his haunches, but Amy shook her head before he could get to comfortable.

'Not yet, they could still find us.'

She took his paw in her hand and gently tugged him upright, and they continued.

Despite the late hour of night, there were many people up and about. They had run to a particularly busy area of the city. Flashing lights and futuristic billboards blinded them, reminding Amy of Piccadily Circus at Christmas. They stopped in front of a cartoon looking statue that was almost taller than Amy. It was an oversized smiling Versutian child, its wide grin slightly unnerving Amy.

She soon became conscious of Versutians taking notice of them, whispering to each other and pointing.

'I think they notice we're not with a Versutian,' Amy remarked.

'Our collars probably don't help...'

Amy instantly glanced down. Around her neck the collar shone like a glow stick, neon blue.

'It's lit up!'

'Yeah... when we left the house. They're programmed to unless set otherwise.'

Amy couldn't believe she had been oblivious to something so apparent until now. In her defence, Patches did have a layer of fur surrounding his, and she had a lot on her mind.

'We need to get somewhere more secluded, like, now.'

Amy turned to go back the way she came but jolted to a halt, an older Versutian woman standing right in front of her. A rather ugly alien that had tentacles running down his face and was holding a small glowing orb stood to the side of her.

'Are you lost, honey?' asked the woman warmly, if not a little patronisingly. She tilted her head to the side.

'No,' Amy said a little too aggressively. 'Just running an errand for the... master. Excuse me.'

With Patches paw in her hand, she stepped around the woman. But she reached out and grabbed Amy's upper arm, twisting her back to face her.

'I have a hard time believing that, sweetie. How about we get you two home?'

Amy ripped her arm away from the woman.

'Ugh! I have had it up to here with being grabbed, shoved, and poked! Do you people not know the meaning of personal space?'

The woman frowned, but seemed undeterred.

'We are going to see an officer about you two,' she said as she reached for them, but Amy sidestepped out of the way, pulling Patches with her.

The woman looked about to try again when a sound, not unlike glass shattering, filled the area.

They all turned their heads to see the statue of the happy Versutian child smashed, its eyes now staring eerily in pieces on the ground.

A small Versutian man frantically sprinted out of the shop. Looking beside himself when he saw the statue, he screamed, and all three of them flinched.

'Who did this!?' he bellowed. 'That cost me a fortune for my shop.'

'Well, darling it was dreadfully tacky anyway,' the woman said.

The shopkeepers face grew dark purple. 'So you admit it? Oh lady, I am getting the police over hear right away.'

As the woman protested, Amy thought she could see Dash across the square. But before she could get a good look, a 'psst' noise sounded behind them.

Amy and Patches looked backwards to see another Catkind, but this one was definitely fully grown. He had more of a humanoid look to him than Patches, just like Dash but with a brown cat face.

'Hey!' he called in a hushed voice, beckoning them to the side of a building.

Amy and Patches looked to each other, than briskly walked away from the situation in front of them to the side of a building.

'Follow me,' he told them.

'Wait, just who are-'

Amy was silenced by a paw being pressed to her mouth. 'Do you wanna ask questions, or do you wanna get out of here?'

She nodded gently and he released her. He led them about to blocks away, avoiding the main areas where there were a lot of lights and people. They slowed down when the neared what looked like the back entrance to a building.

The catkind's yellow eyes darted back and fourth as he checked the surroundings. Obviously satisfied, he opened the metal door, holding it for them.

'Go on!' he hissed.

Amy and Patches scurried inside. Giving one last look around, the stranger clambered in after them.

'It's very dark in here,' Amy noted. She couldn't see a thing other than the blue coming from her neck.

'They're just being paranoid, rightfully so though. Guys, bring up the lights! It's me!'

The lights flickered on slowly, but when they were all on the place was well lit. Amy breathed a gasp of surprise and Patches grip tightened on her when they were surrounded by over twenty people, many cat-kind but other species in the mix, most Amy didn't recognise.

A brown paw was extended in front of them.

'I'm Trig, and we,' he gestured to the group, 'are The Strays.'

**Notes:** Oh, this chapter is pretty lame. Especially the ending. But whatever! I hope you are enjoying. I'm not getting many reviews but a lot of views compared to fics on my last account, and I'm wondering if it's because I'm not begging for reviews like I used to. Well, just wanted to let you know, I love constructive critisism or would like to hear what you think about the story! Though I feel like my writing style has improved even since I've moved on, constructive crit still couldn't hurt. I'd love to hear from you guys!


	11. The Strays

**Chapter 11**

'Why would your sonic screwdriver be calling my MRM?'

'That is a very good question, to which the answer is, I don't know.'

The Doctor was pacing in their bubble in the cafe, which, given the limited space, really wasn't an opportune place to pace at all.

'Maybe Amy got the screwdriver back and was trying to get a message to me,' guessed the Doctor. 'But she doesn't even know you're with me...'

'Well, it was Rheia who called from the ID. Maybe she found the people who took Amy and got her back? Plus the screwdriver?'

'That could easily be found out if she'd answer her phone,' the Doctor growled.

'Her MRM appears to be malfunctioning,' Milo said as he lowered his own after trying her again. 'They are solar powered automatically and last for weeks in darkness. Plus, it would not be like her to let it run out.'

'Which suggests foul play...' the Doctor said thoughtfully and stopped pacing. 'Well, we don't know that for sure. But it would probably be best if we went back to the lab. If Amy was found by Rheia, that's where she would bring her, right?'

'I would think so.'

'Good good, then let's get on with it! Oh, and thank you for the meal.'

Milo looked at the Doctor's plate. 'You barely ate any of it.'

'Well I didn't like it, but it was still nice of you to buy it for me.'

'Er, your welcome, then.'

The Doctor clapped his hands together. 'C'mon! Let's get going.'

* * *

Excited and cautious faces appraised Amy and Patches, but their own only reflected bewilderment. No one spoke for a few moments and, sick of the stares, Amy decided to break the silence.

'So... you guys are a band?' she guessed.

'No!' answered Trig. 'We're a group of runaways, biggest in the city.'

Amy raised her eyebrows. 'And what do you do, exactly?'

'Well, we look out for each other!' Trig said gleefully. 'We were sick of forced into being menials for people who don't care about us. I'm sure you know, you seemed to be doing a runner yourselves. We ran away and became strays, but we found each other. Now we all work together to live. You two looked like you might want to be recruited.'

He spoke like a captain of some sort, which made Amy wonder if he was the leader of the group. But he also made it sound like a some kind of mission or a military operation.

'Oh, well no,' Amy answered abruptly. 'Er, I mean, thank you for getting us back there, but we're actually looking for someone.'

'So you aren't running away?' he said flatly. 'You two are looking for your master.'

Amy scowled. 'No. We're looking for a friend, not our master.'

'They're welcome here as well!' He paused. 'Unless you're talking about a Versutian. Any Versutian will always be your master, and you'll just be a slave or a pet to them. Doesn't matter if they call you _companion_, you're still beneath them,' Trig said, disdain evident in his voice.

'He's not Versutian. He's... well, he looks like me but he isn't human.'

A collective gasp came from the room.

'You're a human?' Trig asked sceptically.

Amy sighed. 'I know, it's shocking. Apparently I'm very rare, or something, so that's why there are people looking for us. Hence the running.'

A concerned-looking woman fought her way to the front of the group . She was a catkind, and the largest one there at that. Over her calico fur she was wearing what looked like a moo-moo.

'Could she be used to help Spike?' she whispered worriedly into Trig's ear, but Amy could still hear her.

'Who's Spike?' asked Patches curiously.

'He was... a younger member of the group,' Trig replied, looking down.

'He was taken by a collector.' the woman said, sniffing. 'I treated him like my own son, and I'll probably never see him again!'

She started to sob, leaning into Trig's chest.

'It's OK, Debby,' Trig consoled her.

'What can I do?' Amy asked.

'The collector only takes in rare species for his gallery and Spike is a Vinvocci.'

'And I take it that's rare?'

'Well, you don't normally see spiky green people walking around, do you?'

'I haven't actually seen too much at all. I just got here. And most of that time I've been locked away.'

'Oh... apologies. Well, catkind are probably the most common on planet. Then you've got the Tivoli and Ood, but they're pretty happy being servants, so they rarely revolt,' Trig explained.

Amy nodded. 'Ok... So what does this have to do with me?'

'He would let you in!' Debby exclaimed. 'He won't give any of us the time of day, but you.' Her open hands gestured up and down Amy. 'He would bring you inside in a heartbeat, being a human!'

'Then all you'd have to do is get us in, and we'll do the rest,' finished Trig.

Amy thought about this. She was sure it would probably be a little more dangerous than what they were implying, but could she really leave some poor child all alone?

Apparently, Trig took her hesitancy to answer as a no as the hope looked to be sucked out of him.

'Debby, we can't just let some poor girl do this for us. I'm sorry we asked.'

'No, no, I'm glad you asked.' Amy smiled as best she could, looking at all the dirty faces. 'I'll do it.'

No sooner had she finished her sentence than the chubby catkind came up to her and squeezed her in a hug.

'Oh, thank you so much!'

'You're... welcome,' Amy managed through the embrace. The moment after she was put down there was a tug on her arm. Patches was looking up at her.

'What if you get caught? I don't want to lose you, too.'

His bulging eyes were threatening tears at any moment, and Amy felt her heart break. He'd lost so much. She knelt down, hugging him tight.

'I'll be back, don't you worry,' she said as she squeezed him. 'Then we're going to find the Doctor, or he's going to find us, and we're going to go home.'

But Amy wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Patches, or herself.

* * *

Rheia ran straight into her office in the facility from her hover where her stationary communication unit was, so she could use it to call Milo.

She entered her messy room, papers and hologram files everywhere and went straight to the corner where the phone was.

'Rheia?' answered a voice.

'Yes, Milo you answered! Look, I know I said I did not want to help you two find Amy, but I saw her!'

'Rheia, where are you?' asked Milo.

'Um, in my office at the lab. But anyway, I saw her near-'

Rheia was interrupted by a strange noise that sounded like it was coming from the room. She whipped herself around, eyes widening at the sight.

_Vworp, vworp, vworp._

Something was materialising into the middle of the room, fading in and out as it made the obnoxious sound. Papers were flying everywhere, and Rheia's hair flung into her face.

Eventually, what stood in front of her was a large blue box.

Out stepped the Doctor, followed by Milo. Rheia stood with her mouth gaping open and the communicator in her hand.

'Did you just teleport?' she asked.

'Yes, basically,' said the Doctor, but then he frowned. 'Other than all the basic principles of a teleport. You know what, it's really nothing like a teleport.'

Rheia merely stared at him, perplexed.

'But that doesn't really matter right now.' The Doctor said.

'How about you finish telling us about Amy?' Milo suggested.

'Ok... I saw her leaving... er, I mean, she is probably near Starlight Street. Where I saw her, of course.' Rheia nodded firmly.

'When did you see her?' The Doctor asked.

'Maybe an hour ago? I saw her running, but I lost her.' She gulped, then took a deep breath. 'Milo, I need to tell you something...'

'Tell me after we find Amy. If she has not gotten too far, my MRM should be able to pick up the chip I gave her.'

While Milo set his device, the Doctor watched Rheia's eyes close, as if she were in pain. Whatever she wasn't telling Milo was a big deal. Normally in the situation the Doctor would try to persuade them to talk, but Milo was right: Amy was the priority. So, possibly against his better judgement, the Doctor kept quiet.

They took the TARDIS to Starlight Street, which lived up to its name. Not that there were actually stars there, but it was very bright. Advertisements and decorations filled the area, as well as a bunch of people.

'This way,' Milo said.

The Doctor trailed rather grumpily after him, not used to being the one to follow. He wasn't used to not having the gadget either. He sighed, longing for his absent sonic screwdriver.

They walked a couple blocks until they came to the back of what looked like an old building.

'My MRM says she is inside there.'

The Doctor looked up at the ratty building.

'Maybe she's hiding in there,' the Doctor suggested hopefully. He didn't want to think it was the hideout of the people who had stolen her.

The Doctor reached his hand out for the door. Jiggling the handle, the old thing moved quite a lot but refused to open.

'Locked. Screwdriver would be nice right about now...'

'Hey, maybe we can break open the windows with that!'

Milo pointed to a cluster of rubbish bins.

'Worth a shot, I suppose. Hopefully no one lives around here...'

They walked over to the rubbish. The Doctor picked up a bin and was about to throw it, stopping only when he heard a commotion behind him.

He turned around abruptly. Milo was no where in sight.

He braced himself, but before he knew it the world went dark as something was placed over his head.

'Who are you? What are you doing!?' he shouted as many hands grabbed him, pulling him about. He felt his hands being tied behind his back.

Hearing a creaking noise he assumed the old door was unlocked and opened, and he was soon pushed inside. Someone removed the hood they'd use to disorient him, but the room was still pitch black.

'Well, that's not very helpful.'

'Doctor?' Milo's voice.

'Yes, right here. Are you alright?'

'Fine,' Milo answered, his voice strained.

'Be quiet!' hissed a voice. 'What were you two doing snooping about? We saw you were about to break in.'

'Ah yes, so sorry about that. Didn't mean to disturb the peace, we were just looking for someone and thought she may be here.'

There was pause. Suddenly, a voice echoed through the room, definitely farther away than the one currently speaking to him.

'Who turned out the lights again? You people have got to stop with that, not all of us have cat eyes you know!'

'Amy...' the Doctor whispered in realisation. 'Amy! Over here!'

'Doctor? What... Ok, someone seriously needs to get the lights!'

The lights slowly flickered on.

Just a few metres away the Doctor saw Amy, her eyes wide with shock until she smiled with relief and disbelief. She bolted towards him, ramming into his chest and flung her arms around him.

'I knew you'd find me.'

She pulled away, arms on his shoulders.

'Well, to be honest there was a little bit of doubting...'

The Doctor made a tutting noise. 'Never doubt the man, Pond!'

'Alright, I won't... as long as you promise never to refer to yourself as that again. Ever.'

'Agreed.'

Milo cleared his through next to them, and they turned to look at him.

'Ah yes, this is Milo!' the Doctor introduced.

'We have, uh, already met,' Milo said, and Amy raised an eyebrow. 'I was actually bringing attention to our current situation.' He showed them his hands, wriggling his fingers.

'Oh!' Amy exclaimed, as if she just noticed the bindings.

'I take it you know them?' Trig asked.

'Yup. I would trust this guy with my life, and I have.' Amy frowned. 'Maybe I should stop doing that...'

'Hey! I always get around to rescuing you.'

'Well, look who's in trouble now, buster.'

'Can we get these off, now?' asked Milo impatiently, which Trig obviously didn't care for, his narrowing to look even more catlike.

'I don't take orders from Versutians. But if Amy vouches for you...'

'I vouch for the Doctor.' Amy shot a finger to point at him.

'And I vouch for Milo.' The Doctor nodded toward the Versutian.

'Then I guess I vouch for Milo too!'

'Ok, ok, enough with the vouching,' Trig said as he brought out a small knife and cut both of them from the ropes.

'Thank you,' the Versutian said, rubbing his wrists.

'Doesn't feel so good, does it?' Amy sneered, crossing her arms.

Milo opened his mouth to answer, but the Doctor stepped between them.

'Amy, play nice. I never would have found you if it weren't for him.'

'You do remember he is the reason we're in this mess, don't you?'

'I thought you said you vouched for him,' Trig hissed, holding his knife near Milo, who quickly raised his hands in surrender.

'Yes, she does,' the Doctor said sternly, moving from between Milo and Amy to blocking off Trig. 'I mean, he did capture us but he just works for a lab. He doesn't abuse anyone. And then he helped me! I think he's earned a second chance.'

Trig stared defiantly for a moment, then nodded as he lowered the knife.

'So,' the Doctor took Trig's hand and shook it vigorously, 'thank you for helping Amy Mr...'

'Trig,' he finished. 'Just Trig.'

'Ah yes, I don't like being a 'mister' either. Of course that's mostly because Mr Doctor sounds a bit ridiculous.'

'So that means you're just... the Doctor?'

'Yes! Exactly!' The Doctor nudged Amy with his elbow. 'See he gets it. Lovely necklace by the way, Amy-

'It's not a necklace...'

'- and this is Milo.'

Milo smiled at Trig. 'So what are all you Speakies doing here? Do you not have owners?'

No one answered. Trig merely stared at him with disgust filled eyes.

'Right then...' the Doctor filled the silence. 'We'll just be off. Thanks again! Happy trails, and what not.'

The Doctor's arms wrapped around his two companions and began to walk out the door, but Amy shrugged out from under him.

'I can't leave yet, Doctor. I promised I'd help them.'

He cocked his head to the side. 'Help with what?'

'Amy!' a voice shouted as a grey blur rushed toward them. The small catkind stood up on two feet when he reached them. 'Were you going to leave without me?'

'No, of course not!'

The Doctor grinned. 'Who's this?' He knelt down to look him in the eyes, but he shied behind Amy. 'Hello there.'

She nudged him forwards. 'Go on, this is my friend the Doctor. He won't bite! Well he did bite me once but that was a special circumstance; needed to be done.'

'What's your name?' the Doctor asked.

'Patches,' he said quietly.

'That's a lovely name, good to meet you.' He held out a hand.

Patches hesitated, then took the Doctor's hand.

'So, are you going to help The Strays get Spike?'

Amy smiled encouragingly, nodding.

'Of course I will. I'm the Doctor, here to help.'


	12. Not So Clever

**Chapter 12**

The Doctor hit his sonic screwdriver again.

'Is that really going to help?' Amy asked.

She was sitting on one of the crates that The Strays used as chairs. Milo was doing the same next to her, the Doctor hovering over the pair of them.

'I don't know, it's not responding to anything,' the Doctor exclaimed. He stopped abusing the gadget for a moment to give it an affectionate rub. 'What did the mean lady do to you?'

'It's not like I hurt the thing, I just pressed the buttons a lot!' Amy rolled her eyes, then shook her head with a sigh. 'Boys and their toys...'

'Alright!' He flicked the screwdriver open. 'Let's try this again.'

Amy pulled her hair back with her hand, uncovering the collar on her neck while the Doctor flourished the sonic in front of her, switching it on.

For a moment there was a steady buzzing noise, but soon it began to falter and splutter, a spark shooting out from the collar. Amy squeaked.

'Ah,' said the Doctor thoughtfully. 'Well, that's something.'

Amy opened her eyes one at a time, as if the sonic might explode any moment.

'Um, it's still on me,' she said, giving the collar a tug.

'But it's not glowing any more,' said the Doctor pointedly.

'Oh, you're right.'

'Though I don't think this will be much good anymore.' The Doctor held up his trusty tool. 'I can't seem to get it back to the original settings... the TARDIS will just have to make me a new one.'

'Sorry.'

'Don't be. It's worth it to have you safe.'

Amy smiled warmly, then looked to Milo. 'So... how did you guys find me?'

'Rheia,' said Milo. 'She saw you. She told us where and then we were in a close enough vicinity to track you with your chip.'

Amy sighed with relief. 'So Rheia's OK? I kind of left her in a bad situation...'

'You mean you saw her?' Milo asked doubtfully.

'Yeah, at Lycan's house.'

The Doctor looked away, but Milo stared at her.

'She didn't tell you...' Amy shifted awkwardly, deciding whether to tell him or not. 'Well, uh, Rheia's kinda been selling out your lab's security codes. That's why you get so many break ins. Also how she knew where I was.'

The Doctor wasn't surprised. He had known something was going on with the Versutian. But it looked like nothing could have shocked Milo more.

'But she... that is her life's work.'

'Well, she _was_ upset that Lycan took someone she hadn't studied yet. So it obviously means something to her. Plus, she did help me get out. She shot Lycan with a stun gun when he wouldn't give me back to the lab.'

Milo chuckled. 'That sounds more like Rheia.

'Alright!' A booming voice came towards them. 'Have you reacquainted with you friends enough? Can we get down to planning this mission?'

Trig walked straight up to Amy. She stiffly stood up to meet him, startled by his abrupt appearance.

'Sure.'

'Yes, why don't we,' said the Doctor. 'I'd quite like to hear this plan.'

'We'll get right to it then. Just as soon as _he_ leaves.' Trig nodded to Milo.

The Doctor flailed his hands in disagreement. 'Now hold on, no need to be hasty.'

'He's making everyone nervous. We're here to avoid Versutians, not invite them in for tea.'

Milo scoffed. 'I have hardly been offered any tea...'

Trig's face contorted in anger as he went for Milo, but the Doctor caught him, holding him back.

'I want you out!' Trig screamed, angrily gesturing toward the door.

'Gladly,' replied the Versutian calmly. He proceeded to get to his feet, heading for the door.

'No, no this isn't how we leave things!' the Doctor protested, striding after him.

'It is fine Doctor. I feel uncomfortable, they obviously do, and I need to sort things out with Rheia anyway.'

'You're sure?' the Doctor asked, and Milo nodded. 'I can take you back then.'

'No need, public transportation is easy enough. Oh, but before I go.'

Milo produced a small holographic card.

'Contact information, in case you get in any more trouble. Though you seem to be capable of getting my attention anyway.'

'Thank you,' The Doctor said, taking the card and immediately handing it over his shoulder to Amy. She took a quick glance, then pocketed the tiny item.

The Doctor then covered Milo in a hug, to which he looked slightly taken aback. Amy giggled at the sight of Milo's arms remaining stiffly at his sides.

The Doctor firmly patted Milo's shoulders and released him. Milo straightened his coat, nodded to Amy, and at last took his leave.

'Finally!' exclaimed Trig, causing a frown to form on the Doctor's face.

'I don't appreciate racism,' the Doctor stated.

Trig didn't look offended by the statement. In fact, he seemed fairly indifferent to it.

'Maybe if you spent some time on this planet with a lower intelligence level you wouldn't mind it so much.'

The Doctor shrugged. 'Doubt it. But we could argue views until the cows come home, if there were any cows here. Are there any? Never mind, let's hear this plan.'

Trig explained about the collector. A man who gathered different species as well as fine artefacts for his exhibit which had the highest of security measures, apparently. The Doctor listened with his upmost attention, nodding thoughtfully. Until the bit about Amy came around.

'Absolutely not,' the Doctor said firmly.

Amy had been expecting the reaction, but she jumped to the offensive nevertheless.

'It's not your choice, Doctor.'

'I'm not going to let you put yourself at risk.'

'Again, not your choice! Plus there's barely any risk at all.'

'I can go instead of her.' The Doctor addressed Trig directly now. 'I resemble humans enough to be passed off as one.'

'Barely anyone knows what a human looks like,' Trig scoffed. 'It's her identification chip that will get her inside.'

'I can go undercover as a Versutian. I have a device that can make me look like them.'

Interest flashed across Trig's face, but Amy interceded before he had a chance to consider it.

'If you recall, that didn't work too well last time. How long is that supposed to last, anyway?'

'Oh, five, six hours...' he trailed off, eyes looking anywhere but Amy's. 'Possibly minutes.'

'Doctor!'

'Alright, I lost the directions so I'm not exactly sure. But it could work!'

'No.'

'We can use the TARDIS, take her right inside...'

'We're going for stealth Doctor, not giant blue box.'

'I could-'

'Doctor.' Amy clasped his hands in her own, putting a stop to his rambling and pacing. 'I'm doing this and I'm going to be fine. Besides, if anything does happen you can swoop in and get me like you always love to do. Don't deny it, I know you love to be the hero.'

The Doctor stared hard into her face.

'Fine,' he said begrudgingly, gently rubbing her hands. He felt the coarse wrapping around the one and frowned. 'I should fix your fingers; the sonic should do the trick.'

Amy quickly recoiled, drawing her hands to her chest.

'Don't even think about it until you get some non-malfunctioning equipment.

The Doctor sighed, but nodded. There was no denying his trusty screwdriver had seen better days.

Trig cleared his throat. 'So... we're going through with the plan?'

The Doctor and Amy looked to each other, then nodded in confirmation to Trig.

He smirked eagerly. 'Then let's get started.'

* * *

Perfect.

This was the word Virgil Callidus would use to describe his day. He would probably even go so far as to say it described his life. He was, after all, filthy rich.

But today had gone extraordinarily well. He had gotten new clients, or as he like to call them, suckers, to donate to his gallery he had convinced most of the world was for charity. Not to mention, brand new species for his games.

Pouring himself a glass of vintage wine he sat in his sitting room and listened to the calming grunts and pacing of his rare pets. As much as he cared for his artefacts, the crown jewels of his exhibit was the livestock, and he took comfort in hearing them stirring downstairs.

He was just about to watch his nightly television when a soft beeping emitted from his monitor. The floating screen zoomed forward, flashing with the words 'UNAUTHORIZED VISITOR, DOOR A.'

'Oh, what is this...' he moaned, pressing a finger to the screen.

A blue tinted image of the front door of his gallery appeared. Standing there was a girl in strange clothes, beating on the door and trying to peer inside the small window.

'Hello?' Her voice burst through the monitor's speaker in a loud crackle. 'Is anyone there? I could use some help!'

He almost thought she was a Versutian, due to the tint of the screen. But with closer examination, Virgil realised she was too short and her head was a bit off compared to the rest of her. If that wasn't enough, the collar enveloping her neck confirmed her inferior status.

Virgil pressed another button on the touch screen and leant his mouth close to the device.

'This is private property. Leave now or I will call the authorities to remove you,' he told her simply.

The girl looked around herself with alarm, trying to find the source of the noise. But the little pest didn't leave. Was she so stupid she didn't realise he wasn't out there?

'Girl! Yes you, I am talking to you. Leave the area,' he told her firmly. He was not going to come down from his apartment just to set straight some lost pet.

Hugging herself nervously, she seemed to finally find the camera and spoke directly into it.

'Please sir, I don't know where my handler went and I'm really scared! He said that since I'm human people may want to steal me.'

'Human? You are a true human?'

'Yes! But don't tell anyone, please. Sir.'

The stupidity of the creature standing outside truly astounded Virgil, and he leant back on his chair to give him a moment to comprehend. She must have been the least intelligent speakie he had ever met.

But with another look, Virgil realised that perhaps he was the one being foolish. How had he not recognised her? It was Lycan's human, she even still had the wrapping on her hand from the last time Virgil had seen her. Lycan, the fool, had let her slip through his grasp already.

Virgil grinned. If Lycan couldn't hold on to her, he may as well have her. He was going to buy her after the games anyhow.

'I will help you. I am opening the door. Come inside but do not touch anything, I will be down in a moment.'

The girl grinned up at him. 'Thank you! Sir.'

With a swipe of his hand on the monitor the door swung open, and he watched her leave the security camera footage as she walked into his gallery.

'Right...' he grumbled, taking one last sip before setting down his cup on the table next to him and making his way downstairs.

The girl was examining one of his items: a sculpture from the temple of the old god on the planet Akhaten.

Virgil couldn't recall the name she'd told him she had, but her pale skin and orange hair were unmistakable up close. Even the dots on her face added to her obscurity.

'Who's Grandfather?' she asked, touching the glass case the sculpture was encased in.

'No matter to you. What matters is that that is an 12000-year-old statue, so you should not touch it.'

It took her a moment, but she eventually lowered her hand. When she finally looked up at him, she gasped.

'It's you!' she said. At first he though she sounded almost scared, she sighed with relief after a moment. It must have just been shock. 'You can take me back to Lycan.'

Virgil cocked his head to the side. 'I am actually shocked you would want that.'

She shrugged. 'I have no where else to go.'

Virgil brushed his long blonde hair behind him and offered a hand to her.

'Did Lycan change your name yet?'

'Nope, still Amy,' she answered as she took his hand. He started leading her toward the back, where the rest of the specimen were, passing up the art as they went.

He was admiring his own collection when her hand came over his mouth, smothering him with a cloth. But it was barely for a second, as he was able to quickly rip her arm away from him. He nearly caused her to fall from the force.

'How dare you?' he told her, her wrist firmly in his grasp, realising from the wrapped arm that was what she had just assaulted him with. 'You think you can suffocate me, _kill_ me, just like that?'

'No,' she smirked, and he could feel his grip loosening. 'But I expect to be able to drug you.'

Virgil wasn't holding on to her anymore. In fact, he wasn't even standing. Laying on the ground, he glared up as the human looked down on him.

'Not so clever now, eh?'


	13. Perfectly to Plan

**Chapter 13**

Amy inspected the man she'd just rendered unconscious, double checking that he was truly out while making sure not to get to close. She'd seen the films where a hand grabs the witless person's ankle. But he just lay there on the ground, blonde hair sprawled unkemptly around him.

Amy stared with a stunned expression at the unexpected familiar face. Her shock nearly caused her to blow her cover, but she'd finished her task, and that's what was important.

Once she was satisfied he was out, she made her way to the door. The gallery was exceptionally clean, she noticed, and if someone were to get the police involved it would probably be only too easy to identify who did the deed. This wouldn't matter to Amy and the Doctor, who were eventually leaving, but she feared for whomever else that was going to come in.

Despite her feelings, she went to unlock the front door. It was always best to stick to the plan when possible.

It was just a sliding door in the wall, no handle. She noticed a holographic touch screen to the side, and finding the open button, the door swept open.

She whistled a three noted tune, making her feel very spy movie-esque, and waited.

At first, all she could hear where the vehicles passing by in the street, but it wasn't to long before dark figures suddenly swept out from the shadows, each ducking in the night, and Amy moved out of the doorway to let them in. Trig, Debby, and a few others came in, finally followed by the Doctor.

'Good job, Pond!' he greeted with a pat on the head.

'See, don't doubt my abilities. Let's go help the others.'

They began walking towards the back of the gallery when another, smaller member of the group came inside.

'Patches!' Amy moaned. 'What are you doing here? This is dangerous.'

'I want to help!' he protested.

'Sounds like someone else I know.' The Doctor chuckled, but stopped the moment he met Amy's disgruntled glare. He straightened his bow-tie nervously under her gaze, looking back at the cat firmly. 'Patches, you shouldn't be here.'

He looked down, his eagerness squashed.

'Well, come on then,' said Amy with a sigh. 'Let's make sure they don't need any help.'

With Patches spirit lifted they were about to head to the back when Debby came rushing forward. In her hands was a small green child with darker spikes sticking out of his head. She went straight pass them and out the door, wailing with what seemed to be joy.

'Looks like we got Spike!' the Doctor exclaimed. 'Assuming that was Spike.'

'I think it's safe to say it was,' Amy said. 'He seems to fit the hard-to-miss description.'

Following them was a plethora of other creatures all running out at the same time. They stampeded out of the gallery, barely giving the three of them a good look at what they were. Amy was sure she saw a spiky red midget and maybe a giant bug, but none of them seemed to have fur so no cat kind included.

'Wait for me outside!' they head Trig shout. 'I will lead us back to the hideout.'

Patches tilted his head, looking toward the back. 'Where's the rest of our group? And why wouldn't they leave right now?'

'Good observations, gold star for you Patches.' The Doctor tapped Patches nose, coaxing a giggle from him. 'How about we see what's keeping them?'

They passed the works of art that spread through the gallery: statues, paintings and strange devices from other alien worlds all inside individual glass cases. Then there was a narrow hallway with no art at all, but they could hear The Strays faint voices coming from that direction.

Coming out from the narrow hallway were large glass cases with small circles cut out that were presumably for breathing. The doors were all left idly open and the cages were vacant.

'What are they doing?' Amy asked. 'Everyone's out!'

'Not sure,' the Doctor said curiously as he pulled ahead of the other two. Patches trailed behind Amy, slowed by his fascination of the place.

They continued past the room of now empty cases and found the rest of the group. Most of them stood by looking anxious but Trig was seeming to work at getting a door open.

'What are you doing?' asked the Doctor. 'Are there more in there?'

'This is where the collector stores his food. We'd be fed for weeks!'

'Whoa, I thought this was just a rescue mission. You're putting everyone at risk staying longer than you need to. The people you've just rescued are waiting for you outside.' The Doctor tried to pull Trig away from the door, but two catkind stepped in front of him. The Doctor put his palms up in surrender.

'All those mouths out there have to be fed! This is a priority,' Trig said, his eyes not leaving the lock.

'Getting them to safety should be the priority!'

'Look, if you're so concerned, why don't you go look after them?' Trig snarled.

'Doctor!'

Amy's shout snapped him out of his current anger and his head was clear enough to hear a faint ruckus outside. The Doctor could hear terrified screams. After a brief look to his companion they both bolted towards the exit, Patches following after them.

The scene outside was complete chaos.

Two hover vehicles were whirring all over the place, chasing screaming Speakies that had just been freed. The machines resembled floating snow-ploughs, except that the plough part was caved inward so much that if you were scooped up by it you would be stuck in a hole and unable to get out. The few Speakies that remained were darting into alleyways or trying to swerve in circles in attempts to dodge the vehicles.

'We have to help them!' Amy screamed.

The Doctor frantically looked about for something they could use. Minus the broken sonic screwdriver, there wasn't much to go for. He was without his TARDIS and inside a gallery they didn't belong in where the owner could wake up at any moment. He decided the only thing he could do was try to talk to whoever was driving the hovers.

He turned to Amy so he could tell her to stay put, expecting some resistance, as usual. But when he saw her face he thought that may not be the case. She looked only slightly short of terrified, gazing up at one of the drivers.

'It's Lycan,' she whispered, her voice so small compared to what was usually filled with such gusto. Patches whimpered beside her and she quickly reverted to a resolute face, more determination than fear.

'Just stay here.' The Doctor told her. Despite her brave face she listened.

With determination, the Doctor headed for the ship. The driver caught sight of him and abruptly stopped his current chase to stare in disbelief.

'What do you think you're doing?' the Doctor shouted over the whir of the engines.

He was doubtful as to if the Versutian had even heard him or not; he only smirked.

Lycan seemed about to continue rounding up the remaining strays when something caught his eye near the gallery.

Amy and Patches straightened frigidly, and Amy began glancing back and forth between the gallery and the street as if deciding whether to try and hide or make a run for it.

In the end she settled on running, pulling Patches along with her.

The Doctor ran in front of the hover, waving his hands trying to stop it from going for them. But it just kept moving forward, forcing the Doctor to move and let it go past him.

Amy and Patches were running for the nearest alleyway which would be too small for the hover to fit into. They looked as though they were going to make it and the Doctor smiled hopefully. But suddenly Amy stopped running.

The Doctor watched as she doubled over, Patches stopping too and staring over her in concern.

'Amy!' he shouted, sprinting over towards them. He managed to see the driver's seat of the hover-craft. The driver was grinning, perhaps even chuckling. In his hand he was clutching a small remote.

Not knowing what it would do, the Doctor desperately clutched his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the machine. To his surprise, it sputtered to a stop, but didn't lose any height.

Lycan was visibly angry, punching all the buttons and pulleys in front of him. The machine eventually began to slowly regain speed, but the Doctor was over to the pair before it moved again at all.

Amy was kneeling on the ground, tugging at the collar around her neck. Small sparks that looked like blue lightning were occasionally flashing in and out and a hiss of pain escaped her lips.

'He's shocking her with the collar!' Patches told him, a paw on Amy's head.

The Doctor looked her over, but the whir of the hover reminded him of the urgency of leaving the area.

'Amy, can you hear me?'

'Yes,' she mumbled. 'I'm fine, it's coming in waves.'

She began to lift herself off the ground, but dropped down suddenly as she jerked her head, another blue streak running along her neck.

'We have to move.' The Doctor put her arm over shoulder. 'One, two, three...'

He hulled her up, and she tried to help as much as she could. They started awkwardly jogging away. Patches tried to help by holding up her other arm, but the height difference made it pretty difficult.

The Doctor kept his eye on the alleyway. They were approaching it at a good enough speed, he decided. He risked a glance behind him and saw the hover still a fair distance away. They were definitely going to make it.

Crossing the threshold of the alley, the Doctor stopped jogging and let Amy collapse to the ground, but still knowing Lycan could and probably would get out of the vehicle he didn't want to wait very long.

Amy tentatively pressed her hand to her neck.

'It's stopped,' she gasped.

Amy looked around, miles more alert than she'd been just a moment ago.

'Where's Patches?' she asked.

The Doctor turned in a circle as he glanced around the alley, but there was no sign of the cat. His head shot up to look at the still approaching vehicle. But its target wasn't them anymore.

On the ground just a little ways away Patches was clutching his neck, and the hover was about to envelop him.

The Doctor ran for him, but he already knew was too late. By the time he got to Patches the hover was on top of them. The Doctor whipped out his screwdriver, but the thing was already as close as it needed to be.

He quickly realised that it wasn't like a snow-plough at all, something was sucking them in as well as just scooping them up.

Knowing it would be impossible to fight against it the Doctor wrapped his arms over Patches and stared up at the machine. He noticed the sparks had stopped flashing around Patches neck. At least that was small mercy.

Despite the Doctor's hair whipping wildly around his face, he continued to look at the driver until the moment he was pulled into the vacuum.

* * *

Amy cowered behind a dumpster and waited as quiet as she could. But once the sound of the hover craft went away, or rather _if_ as she was counting on it not finding her, she had no idea what she was going to do. It was quite a trek Trig had taken them on to get there and she hadn't the foggiest idea of how to get back.

After watching Patches and The Doctor get swallowed up by the giant machine, her first instinct was to to run out after them. And Amy might have even done that just so she and the Doctor wouldn't be separated again, but she knew Lycan would put her in those games soon enough, somewhere the Doctor was sure not to be allowed to follow her.

She had run as far as she could down the alley without going into a larger street to avoid the hover-craft, but when she saw bright lights up ahead she knew her best bet was to hide.

So that's what she was doing. Hiding like a scared puppy that'd been kicked. She half-expected her collar to start stinging her again and was ready if it did; she wouldn't make a sound.

But it didn't. The whirring noise of the hover eventually disappeared and it took her friends with it.

She swiftly picked herself off the ground to assess where she was. Hoping to see nothing but alleyway, her heart fell to her stomach when she saw Lycan and Leo, entering the alley and looking behind everything they saw. She didn't have to guess who they were looking for.

As she carefully backed into the shadows of the alley, hoping she couldn't be seen, a hand shot out over her mouth, muffling her immediate scream as she was pulled downwards.

No, not a hand on her mouth, a paw.

'Nice to see you weren't caught,' Trig whispered jollily, taking his paw off her lips. 'Here, take this.'

He placed a large, not to mention heavy, parcel in Amy's hands, then put a finger to his lips telling her to be quiet before she had a chance to speak.

'Let's go everyone!' he called to the group in a hushed voice. Amy then realised they were all carrying packages. She decided not to question it. This was her way out.

They followed single file as Trig led them through the most desolate places in the city, and Amy didn't see Lycan again. Eventually they made it back to The Stray's hideout.

'Well I'd call that a successful trip!' Trig exclaimed as soon as they were inside and the rest of the group cheered in agreement. He turned Amy, giving her a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. 'And you were just brilliant!'

Amy shrugged him off. 'What are you talking about?' she asked, flabbergasted. 'Everyone you got out from that collector got caught again! Didn't you see the hover-crafts rounding people up?'

'That's there own fault.'

'You told them to wait for you to show them where the hideout was, how was it there fault?'

'If you don't know when to run and hide when there's a sign of trouble, you don't belong here anyway. They'd never keep up. We went there for Spike and we got him. Those others were just out of mercy.'

Amy thrusted what was in her hands to the ground of the warehouse, the contents of food spilling out and rolling all over the ground.

'If you hadn't have disregarded the plan and just left after you got them out the Doctor and Patches would be here right now!'

Trig sighed. 'Truth is, Amy, we didn't deviate from the plan. We were always going to get the food, even if it meant having to leave before we could get them out. I am sorry your friends got caught in the crossfire.'

Amy could feel angry tears welling in her eyes, but made sure not to let them escape. She shook her head. 'That's not right. Putting food before living beings.'

'The only way they'll stay living beings is with food,' he exclaimed, but she just continued to glare at him. He sighed. 'That's the way the world works. This one, anyway.' Shrugging, he quickly putting the food Amy dropped back in its box and stood up. 'Might want to get used to it, seems you're going to be here a while.'

He walked away, as did all the onlookers watching their exchange since it seemed the entertainment was over, leaving Amy to stand there fuming. She saw Trig go over to Spike and Debby, as if their little happy family was back together and nothing was wrong at all.

Amy stalked over to a corner, racking her brain for anything that could help get the Doctor and Patches back. Her brain eventually delivered, reminding her of the little holographic card in her pocket. She walked up to Trig with a grin.

'So, how do I make a phone call in this joint?'


	14. Tense Talks

**Chapter 14**

Milo was sitting in his office going over some findings about the Tivolian they had in their testing centre. She had been there for quite a while, and not a rare species, but Milo had to distract himself with something. He had asked Rheia to meet him at the lab to talk and was now anxiously awaiting her arrival.

It was hard for Milo to believe Rheia would do something that would not only jeopardise her work but would put the creatures that had become somewhat fond of in danger. He needed to hear it for himself.

No sooner had he been wishing to get the confrontation over with had Rheia appeared in the doorway of his office.

'Hello,' she mumbled, a smile trying to form on her face but seemed as if it was weighted down.

'Hi. Have a seat, if you want to.'

She walked in his small circular office, her eyes wondering up and down the place as if she'd never been there, which she had over the course of their work together, multiple times.

'You have always kept your office so much more tidy than mine. It is a wonder you can work without the hominess.'

Startled by random comment, Milo took a moment to answer. 'Well, it is work. Not home.'

'True.' She nodded absent-mindedly as she looked about the room again, her eyes making sure not to go anywhere near Milo's.

'Rheia... earlier you said you needed to talk to me. Care to do that now?'

Her eyes finally met him, and he could see the sadness in the blue at what she needed to confess. She nodded just slightly and let out a heavy sigh.

'I have been giving some people all the codes to our security systems so they can break in and steal Speakies for the games.'

She said it all very quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. And the effect was similar, she seemed visibly relieved despite the confession.

Milo wasn't surprised, but his disappointment grew with the affirmation of his fears. Rheia appeared to sense it.

'I figured the girl would tell you. That is why I tried to tell you before you left, but you were in such a big hurry. It was not my place to delay you like that so I could make myself feel better.'

Milo stayed silent for a few moments.

'Are you going to say anything?' she asked.

'Why?' he asked. 'Why did you do it?'

'Money, mainly,' she said simply. When Milo looked unsatisfied with the answer, she continued. 'Look, I like our specimen. But I do not bond with them like you do. We just run tests, and they are just Speakies. They are not _our_ companions.'

'But we spend every day with them. And that is not even the point! You put your job in jeopardy. You are giving away government funded property!'

'I know. And I am sorry!' She breathed heavily. 'I have no idea what I could ever do to make it up to you.'

The more Milo thought about it, he didn't either. So he decided not to say anything. The stagnant silence in the room was enough to make anyone uncomfortable, until Milo's MRM started up with a shrill beeping. Both of them were visibly relieved, and Milo didn't even bother asking Rheia if she minded him taking the call.

'Hello?'

Rheia was staring at her twiddling fingers on her lap, stewing in her own shame as Milo spoke. She didn't register anything he said until the end of the conversation.

'I will leave right now to come get you,' he said, and switched the device off. Rheia lifted her head to look at him, expecting to finish their conversation.

'I think I may have just found a way you can make it up to me.

* * *

'I cannot fathom how you could let a creature of that value get away! Twice.' Virgil gazed at Lycan, his eyes red with fury.

Lycan sat like a naughty child who'd been caught as he listened to Virgil chastise him. When he got the call about a break in, he'd never expected it to be the human girl who'd gotten away to be the one behind it. Not only did he lose his chance to recapture her, Virgil found out about the mishap sooner than he had hoped.

'She only got away by sheer luck, I can assure you of that,' he growled lowly, trying to keep his emotions in check. 'Grabbing a blaster from someone I did not even know had it on her...'

'I do not want to hear excuses!' he hissed. 'The games start in three hours and I am out one human. She was advertised, bets have been made! What do you intend to do about that?'

Lycan had been expecting this. 'I have a plan. I captured her friend and he resembles a human enough to pass for one I think. He is in one of the game's cells as we speak.'

Virgil gritted his teeth, his body nearly shaking in anger. 'You are a fool! He is of an intelligence level that would easily be shown to be higher than a level five in the games. And the only reason anyone would even know the appearance of a human is due to the advertisements that include her picture, making it clear that man is not her.'

'We could use him,' Lycan suggested quickly. 'Draw her out by threatening him.'

'Do you know where she is? I do not. How would we even get a message to her?'

Suddenly there was a slow, soft beeping, and Virgil's monitor flew over to them, hovering next to Virgil's head. It read 'INCOMING CALL FROM: DOCTRINA BIOLOGICAL FACILITY' FOR LYCAN STEELE. The call had been sent to Lycan's MRM but was automatically rerouted to the largest monitor in the area.

Virgil shook his head in annoyance and looked about to swipe off the call.

'I would maybe answer that if I were you,' Lycan told him. 'That is where I acquired the human.'

Virgil lifted his head, breathing sharply through his nose. He then straightened out his suit as to conducted himself before pressing the answer button on the monitor.

Lycan tensed immediately when he saw her face pop onto the monitor, her cheery expression making him clench his hands into fists.

'Hello!' chimed Amy, giving a small wave. When the shocked faces gave her no answer, she continued. 'Good to see you're both here. I thought you might be.'

'What are you doing, girl?' Virgil asked incredulously.

'Well you've captured my friends. Can't have that. How about we make a little trade?'

Virgil chuckled. 'What on earth do you have that we would want? Unless you were willing to sacrifice yourself. And in that case, it is a done deal.'

'Not quite. But I do have something I think Lycan might be interested in.' Amy's cheeriness quickly faded as she gulped nervously, her air of being in charge faltered for only a moment, as if disturbed by what she was about to say. 'Do you know where your daughter is?'

Lycan took an aggressive step toward the screen.

'She is at home,' he said firmly.

'Not anymore. And if you ever want to see her again, I suggest we meet tonight. With the Doctor and Patches.'

'Where?' he asked anxiously. He may not have completely believed her yet, but his mind still jumped to the worst conclusion.

'The, uh...' she looked confused, then whispered a something to someone offscreen to which there was a hushed reply. 'The Gate of the Cosmos. One hour.'

'We will be there,' Virgil said calmly. 'Good evening, Amy.' He turned off the monitor before she could get a last word in, her face disappearing in a flash of blue.

Lycan immediately called his house and sure enough, Livy was not there. Leo told him that Rheia had picked her up just a little while ago. Thinking to have no quarrel with Rheia, his daughter had quite an interest in the scientist actually, Leo thought nothing of it. Lycan was just as shocked to hear it was her who had taken Livy.

Lycan sat down and buried his head into his hands. Meanwhile Virgil paced the room, an eager and confident smile spread across his face.

'What good luck that little thing has finally brought you,' Virgil announced. 'I thought it was just a nuisance but apparently she comes in handy.'

'That is my daughter!' Lycan shouted.

'I am aware, and right now she has just earned us the location of the human. Now get the Time Lord and catkind prepared. We would not want to be late for our meeting.'

* * *

'This isn't right.'

Amy's hands rubbed up and down her legs nervously.

'We will not actually hurt her,' Milo assured her.

'I know.' She paused. 'And I think Virgil knows it too. He seemed way too complacent with the situation.'

'Lycan is the one we have to get to. He is the one who caught them, after all.'

'Yeah but Virgil's like his boss. It just makes me uneasy. This whole thing does!' Amy abruptly stood up, throwing her hands into the air before clutching them around her chest. 'And for the record, I do not feel right doing this to Livy, even though we won't hurt her.'

'For all Livy knows, she is just out for a late night snack with her father's friend. She is fine. It is everyone else we should be concerned about.'

'Yeah, yeah, I know you're right.'

'So are you ready to go?'

She shrugged. So much of what she'd done in the last few hours were things she had previously thought deplorable. She'd drugged a man, kidnapped a little girl (sort of), and was now about to make a 'trade of prisoners'. Was traveling with the Doctor always going to be like this?

Snapping out of her thought, she nodded.

'As ready as I'll ever be.'

'I will contact Rheia so she knows we are going to leave. Then we are off to meet with some crime lords and get your friends back!'

* * *

'This is rather fun, don't you think?' the Doctor asked, scanning the area with his sonic screwdriver.

Patches gave him a look that clearly meant he did not share the thought.

'We're in a cell and have no idea what they're going to do us. How is that fun?'

'Oh, I dunno. It's a new place, new experience. Anything can be fun if you look at it the right way.' He hit the sonic, causing it to beep in high pitched tone. Patches pushed his big ears down on his head. The Doctor hit it again and it sputtered to a stop. He continued as if nothing happened. 'This is a nice... condensed area. That bench right there is a nice touch.'

The cell they were in was particularly small compared to the rest of the place. From what the Doctor had gathered this was where the cells holding creatures to play in the games were located. It was underground, but he couldn't find out anything more than that. Patches and the Doctor had been the first two to be dropped off as they weren't actually going to play in the games anytime soon, Patches being too young and the Doctor too intelligent.

It quickly became clear to the Doctor that the sonic screwdriver was not going to respond and he dishearteningly placed it back in his jacket pocket.

'I'm hungry,' Patches said out of the blue, rubbing his stomach.

'I could go for a jammy dodger myself. Hopefully dinner's soon. Or, wait, not jammy dodgers. I'd rather like some good mashed potatoes with gravy, yes that would hit the spot right about now.'

Patches giggled despite his current gloomy demeanour.

'You are funny,' he admitted.

The Doctor grinned. If he could get the child's spirits up for even a moment he counted it a success.

All of a sudden, Patches ears suddenly pricked up at the sound of a door clanging open.

'Maybe that's dinner!' said the Doctor. Lycan stepped into view, but the Doctor remained cheery as he advanced. 'Bring any mashed potatoes, by chance?'

Lycan ignored him, swiping his remote key over the lock so that the cell door swung open. He produced a large blaster from his back pocket and pointed it in at them.

'Move,' he ordered, gesturing with the blaster.

Patches stepped behind the Doctor who stared at Lycan coldly.

'I don't appreciate guns being pointed at me.'

'I cannot imagine you appreciated being put in a cell either, Doctor.'

'Not particularly, but it's much preferred over weaponry.'

'This could be avoided if we were allowed to put a collar on you, but being of higher intelligence it is frowned upon.'

'Lucky me.'

'You are, actually. Your girlfriend has offered a trade, so I need you to come with me now. So get a move on!' He signalled with the blaster again, this time less patiently.

'Amy? No, I won't let her trade herself for me.'

The Doctor began backing into the cell but jerked to a stop at Lycan's hearty laughter.

'She is not trading herself; the little brat is no martyr.'

'Then what could she possibly have that you want?'

'My daughter,' Lycan said soberly, and the Doctor's shock was plain on his face, causing Lycan for a small grin. 'So, she isn't quite the saint you thought her to be.'


	15. The Gate of the Cosmos

**Chapter 15**

Amy got out of Milo's hover-car, body shaking with trepidation. Her heart felt like it might fall from her chest at any moment.

They got out at what Milo had called The Gate of the Cosmos. He explained it to her as if it was a public park, but when she got their she realised it was so much more, and how it had earned the name.

To get there, they had to scale quite a tall slope with the vehicle they were riding in. It happened to be up higher than the rest of the city, above the main cloud cover and past the heavier gases that made of their atmosphere (as Milo had described it.) So the view at the top was purely breathtaking.

Amy could see thousands of stars through the purple sky. Even at night Amy noticed the planet had never gotten to be completely black, and the shining white lights that speckled the sky above them added to the beauty of that natural wonder. What was also clearer, and made to seem much more massive, was a large planet that was barely visible down below but seemed as if it was going to run right in to them from up high.

'What is that?' Amy asked.

Milo gazed upwards. 'That is Gallus, a moon that rotates Versutus. It is not actually too big, just very close.'

Amy nodded absentmindedly. The area around them was a flat plateau despite being on top a hill. There was plant life everywhere, big flowers and grass covered the area in saturated colours of purple and green. They had parked near a large boulder which had the words 'The Gate of the Cosmos' elegantly carved into it.

She leant up against the rock, sighing.

'And now we wait.'

They didn't have to wait very long however. A sleek looking hover came into view over the hill a few metres away from them. It was bright white, so clean and new looking that it seemed at may have even been bought earlier that day.

Lycan, Virgil and Dash the cheetah-man exited the van simultaneously. The Versutians headed to the front of the hover while Dash made his way around back. Amy stepped forward to talk first, wanting to make sure everyone knew who was in charge.

'Where are they?' she demanded.

Lycan he nudged his head backwards. 'My companion is retrieving them,'

Dash came back with the Doctor and Patches in tow, arms tied behind them. Patches looked absolutely overwhelmed, while The Doctor had a stern, almost disproving expression.

'I see you have multiple Versutians working in your favour,' Virgil noted, nodding to Milo and obviously referencing Rheia. 'I wonder how you got them to turn on their own kind?'

'Alright, here's how this is going to work,' Amy called, not bothering with a response. 'You hand them over and when we're safely away, I'll call you and tell you where Livy is.'

Lycan didn't look too satisfied with that, considering the way his lip turned up in a snarl.

'I have your friends right in front of me. What proof do I have that you will not keep Livy?'

Amy put her finger to her mouth in mock consideration. 'Hmm, I dunno... how about the fact that I don't want to hurt a child? You have every reason to keep all of us.'

'Amy...' the Doctor said cautiously, 'don't do anything you'll regret.'

'I'll do whatever it takes, Doctor!'

She hoped she sounded convincing, but at the same time didn't want the Doctor to think she'd ever actually hurt a kid. It was hard trying to convince people of opposite things at the same time.

Lycan made a noise that Amy couldn't describe as anything less than a growl, but Virgil was the one to speak up.

'You know, you make an excellent point, human. We do have every reason to keep you all. You will not hurt a little girl. You know it and I know it. It does not matter what her species is.'

Milo stepped up. 'Do not test us, we will!'

'There's really no need, we can sort this out without violence!' called the Doctor.

Virgil frowned playfully at Milo, as if he hadn't heard the Doctor at all. 'No, you really will not. 'If you come with us, I shall not have to hurt your Versutian friend, which honestly I would prefer not to anyway. Legal issues, you understand.'

He addressed only Amy now, who met him with a puzzled expression. Lycan had a similar face.

'What are you doing?' asked Lycan.

'The sensible thing.'

'They have my daughter!'

'And she will be perfectly fine. These two would not dare lay a hand on her. Now come on, little human. Are you going to come wilfully?'

'If you take Amy then Lycan's daughter is gone!' shouted Milo. 'We have someone waiting to hear from us, and if they do not...'

'Rheia Seeds, I am aware. But she will not do any more harm than you two would.'

'Virgil please... it is my daughter.'

'Stop your snivelling, she will be perfectly fine!' Virgil said in a sudden outburst, then turned abruptly to Amy. 'Are you going to come or do I have to use force?'

Amy stared, glancing around from person to person, hoping one of them could silently tell her what to do. They didn't. She noticed the Doctor fervently trying to get out of Dash's firm grip. Virgil's beady eyes stared at Amy's.

'Fine,' he said, and pulled a remote, almost as if out of nowhere.

Lycan stared incredulously. 'Did you take that from me?'

'You would never have had the guts to use it; not while they have your daughter,' Virgil said, then pressed forcefully on the remote.

Amy immediately felt the familiar stinging on her neck, but it felt much more powerful then the last time she'd experienced it. She collapsed to her knees in a fit of pain, barely registering the Doctor's protests as she clutched her arms around her stomach, trying to steady herself. The pain abruptly stopped and Amy gasped for air.

'Nobody move!' shouted Milo, and Amy looked up to see he had a blaster in his hands, aiming it back and forth between Lycan and Virgil.

The Doctor groaned. 'Oh, come now; do we really have to do the gun thing?'

'Give us the Doctor and Patches!' demanded Milo.

'No,' Virgil replied calmly, a smile of amusement creeping up the corner of his mouth.

'I will shoot!'

'I have no doubt you will, considering it is set to stun.'

Milo's face showed the obvious shock from his unexpected knowledge, but his eyes narrowed in determination as his finger moved over the trigger.

There was a blast. Amy winced, closing her eyes. When she opened them to see the damage, no one near the van seemed to be affected.

Next to Amy, Milo fell down with a thud. On top of the boulder behind her she saw a silhouette against the starry sky of someone brandishing their own blaster. As he hopped off the rock she saw it was Leo, Lycan's brother.

'Not to worry, mine is on stun too,' he said to Amy with a devilish grin, now pointing the gun at her.

'Leo, what are you doing?' hissed Lycan.

'Only the smart thing. This way we get the human. And Livy was never in any danger anyway,' Leo said as he stepped over Milo, sauntering over towards Amy. He grabbed her by the arm and hastily pulled her, scrambling, to her feet.

He brought her straight up to Virgil who took her by the wrist, flaunting the remote in his other hand, as if daring her to try anything.

'What do you want me to do with the Versutian?' asked Leo.

'Put him in the back of my hover. Until I can think of what else to do with them, he and the Doctor are going to be my honoured guests at the games. Front row tickets to see how well the their friend will do,' he said, then thought for a moment. 'Well, not front seats. I have a lovely personal box but I do have to sacrifice a few rows.'

'You can count me out,' said the Doctor. 'Fight to the death shows really aren't my thing.'

'Oh, Doctor, who said anything about to the death? We try to keep our valuables alive and well, it would not do to just go killing them off all the time,' he chuckled. 'Now getting hurt, well, that is an entirely different story.'

To Amy's surprise, the Doctor began to laugh darkly. 'You aren't just in this for the profit, you like seeing other's in pain. Especially when they're subordinates; so much easier for you to control, eh?'

Virgil held his hands out, a smile on his face. 'It is true, you have figured me out.'

Amy's arm was held awkwardly in the air due to his gesture, until all of sudden he jerked her away so that she collided with Leo, who was walking back from putting the unconscious Milo in the back of the hover.

'You and Lycan take her straight to the games. There should be just enough time to fix that injured hand before she goes in.'

'But my daughter!' Lycan protested.

Virgil rolled his eyes. Sighing, he turned to Amy. 'Tell him that his daughter is fine.'

Amy stared at him, tight lipped and defiant.

With another sigh, he hit the button on the remote, and she was again spiralling into disorienting pain as she wriggled in Leo's arms.

'Yes!' Amy managed to shout. 'She's fine! R-Rheia just took her to get something to eat!'

But the shock kept going. It didn't come in waves like it had in the alleyway and Amy found herself crying out.

'Stop!' she heard someone shout.

The pain ceased. Amy looked up shakily towards the Doctor, his hair spread wildly out to the sides from him struggling to get to her. He looked at her with so much despair, but at the same time relief.

Despite this, she registered he hadn't been the one to speak. Turning her gaze towards Virgil, Amy was surprised to see Lycan had grabbed the remote.

'You do that too long and she will be too weak to move, let alone participate in the games.'

Virgil nodded. 'True enough. Now get her to Callidus. And take that cat with you; he should be able to fight soon enough. I will be keeping Dash for now.'

Patches was shoved from Dash to Leo, who took him firmly by the collar and Amy by the wrist.

'Don't worry!' the Doctor called to them as they were hulled away. 'Nothing's ever as bad as it seems. Usually.'

Amy rolled her eyes. 'Thanks for the words of wisdom, Doctor.'

'No problem, keep your chin up!' he said as his head was pushed down into the trunk.

She guessed the optimistic comment was more for Patches benefit than herself, though she really could use it at a time like this as well.

Amy found herself trussed up just like Patches and the Doctor, and they were soon bundled into a van-like hover. It was pitch black, and when they were inside Amy felt as though it seemed oddly familiar.

The Doctor had just a moment to see Amy and Patches get into the hover before being shoved into the incommodious space of the boot of the newer looking vehicle himself.

He was told to lay down next to Milo, who was unconscious on the floor of it, and who had a bit of unflattering drool pooling out the side of his mouth.

Just as Dash was about to close it, the Doctor realised this may have been his chance to talk to a pet without a Versutian present.

'Wait, wait!' the Doctor whispered urgently, popping his head out of boot like a groundhog. 'Do you really want to do this?'

Dash rolled his eyes and began to close it again, but the Doctor interceded.

'Think about it! All these creatures you take to the games; who's to say they aren't going to put you in there as well?'

'I'm Lycan's companion,' growled Dash.

'Yes, but so was Patches, wasn't he?'

'Patches disobeyed. He deserves punishment.'

'What about Amy? What did she ever do?'

'That's just how things work here,' Dash told him, giving a warning look that he was going to close the boot. The Doctor sighed.

'Fine. Fine! Do you what you want. But maybe give it a bit of thought, eh?' he said as he shifted onto his back in the small space. 'Close her up then!'

Then top came down on top of him, leaving the Doctor to be enveloped by darkness.


	16. Fixed Fingers and Box Seats

**A/N: **Yo! So I just put up a new adventure story, this one taking the Doctor and Amy into the past to meet some real figures from history. So if you want, feel free to check that out. Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated!

**Chapter 16**

Every inch of her felt cold. All her bones felt like they were humming from the inside out, as if they were vibrating.

This was a strange sensation, since the only part of Amy that was actually inside the machine was her hand. But that seemed to be the only place she didn't feel anything. And she couldn't see her hand either, the metal cover hiding it. She was beginning to doubt if her fingers were still even there.

Lycan stood over her like a worried parent waiting for their child to be stitched up, tapping his foot and watching the machine. The only difference was his face, definitely not worried parent. More like impatient brother.

'A watched pot never boils,' Amy told him, inclining her head towards her arm. He made no response, but he did stop looking at her as if snapping out of a trance.

Amy was done resisting, at least until she could think of a way to do it that would actually benefit her. She had struggled the time they took her and Patches out of a van, put them in a lift, and the whole way down to the cell they put Patches in. But the Versutians were too strong and it didn't do one bit of good, only making her exhausted.

At first Amy was worried about Patches being on his own in a cell, but after walking by a plethora of rather nasty looking creatures, she was happy for his solitude.

So now she was in what Lycan called the medical bay, but it looked more like a large storage closet to her. Objects and machines of different sorts were piled on top of each other, as if they'd been left there so long ago people just forgot about them. Lycan dug up what was currently over Amy's arm. It looked like it hadn't been used in a decade.

'How long is this supposed to take, anyhow?' she asked.

'Five or ten minutes,' he grumbled.

'The Doctor could use something like this.'

'It is not exactly... a conventionally used machine.'

Amy raised an eyebrow. 'It doesn't work?'

'It can glitch.'

'Oh, isn't that just peachy.'

'But it is efficient.' Lycan hesitated. 'You seem... cheerier, than usual.'

Amy shrugged. 'I guess you could say I've accepted my fate. Might as well try to win these games and keep myself alive.'

'That is not possible.'

'Thanks for the vote of confidence.'

'Not possible for you to win all your rounds. But you should stay alive, at least.' His tone was very matter of fact.

'Well, that makes everything fine and dandy, doesn't it?' Amy said facetiously.

A ding like noise an oven would make when it's preheated sounded, and the light coming from the machine blinked off.

'Finally,' groaned Lycan. 'Follow me. We are going to the arena.'

Amy got up from her seat and tested her fingers. 'Uh, I can't feel my hand.'

'Like I said, glitchy. But for all intensive purposes it should be healed.'

They were just about to exit the room, when a familiar energetic voice burst through the air.

'Daddy!' shouted Livy, running up to throw her arms around her father.

Lycan held his hands out to the sides, a stunned expression on his face. Leo came into the room soon after, grinning obliviously.

'You brought her here? Now?' Lycan hissed. 'The games are about to start!'

'You said you wanted to see her as soon as possible.'

'Yes! That means I was excited to get home, not to bring her out at this late of night!'

Livy looked up, her chin resting on his stomach. 'Daddy, the police took Rheia away. Did she go to jail? I like her; I would not like it if she went to jail!'

'She took you without telling me,' Lycan explained.

'Oh, so your friends in the police station took her?' said Amy. 'The Doctor told me you guys have some kind of arrangement.'

'You keep your mouth shut!' Lycan told her, then turned to Leo. 'Take my daughter home, please. I need to get to the arena.'

'But I have always wanted to see the games! Can I watch a round? Please? Pretty please?'

Livy held her father's hand, jumping up and down with the words. Lycan was overwhelmed, and before he had a chance to answer, she rambled on.

'Is Amy playing?' Livy faced Amy. 'Are you playing? Oh I want to see Amy play!'

'Honey, it is not a good place for you. I would not want you to be...'

'Traumatised?' guessed Amy, her arms folded over her chest.

Lycan glared at her. 'No... nothing like that.'

'So I can go?' Livy asked.

With a defeated sigh, Lycan agreed. This caused Livy to go into another jumping fit, running around all of them. Despite Lycan's tough guy act, he seemed incredibly weary of his daughter's abundant energy.

'Take her to my box, Leo. You can watch from there.'

Leo took the beaming little girl's hand. She gave Amy a little wave and was about to leave, when she abruptly turned around.

'What name did you decide for her?' asked Livy, inclining towards Amy.

'What would you call her?'

Livy cupped her finger and thumb around her chin in though. 'I thought of a lot of names! Patches helped earlier. But I think my favourite would have to be... Amelia.'

Lycan looked puzzled. 'That is already her name.'

'I know! But she does not go by it, so it is sort of like a name change! Please can that be her name for the games?'

'Virgil may not notice it is her real name...' Lycan mumbled to himself, then smiled. 'Sure, why not.'

* * *

The Doctor was somewhat surprised by the lack of reaction from everyone they passed while walking through the arena hallway. There was a tied up Versutian and you could tell the Doctor was a high intelligence species (if you looked hard enough) just being waltzed through the hall, but no one seemed to find anything strange about the sight. Apparently being in charge had a few perks.

After being in the bowels of the arena when he was in a cell, the Doctor would have thought the whole place would be just as run down and dirty looking. But as Virgil marched him and Milo toward his box, he couldn't have been more wrong.

Crystal chandeliers lined the hallway as the walked around the hallways of the arena. They walked on expensive looking stone that was covered with navy blue rugs. It reminded him of a mix of a concert hall and a football stadium.

'This is really quite an operation!' the Doctor exclaimed as they walked. 'Not only did you procure such a space, the décor is magnificent. You're in charge of the games so did you help design it as well? It's fantastic, I'll tell you that.'

They stopped in front of door. Virgil's Ood companion, whose name the Doctor had found to be Tibby, opened it in a graceful sweep.

'Thank you Tibby,' said the Doctor courteously as he stepped inside.

In front of them was a luxurious lounge room, with multiple monitors on the walls, couches and what looked to be a bar. Stretching across the other side of the room was a big window which overlooked the arena from the centre.

The Doctor jogged up to the window and looked down. At the moment, the field seemed to be covered up with something and he couldn't see what the place was actually filled with. But looking up he could see that, despite the size and the fact that the cells were even farther beneath them, they were not on the surface of the planet.

'Underground. That would be a good place to keep a giant arena you're trying to hide. I don't know why I didn't think of it! Construction must have been a tad annoying, being a secret and all. But then the police seem to know about it so maybe they even allowed you the space? All very interesting if ask me. I know you didn't but if you were to. Ask me, I mean.'

As the Doctor rambled, Virgil's face twisted into a grimace.

'Do you ever shut up?' he hissed.

'Not really. Well, sometimes, given a good reason. Like a book, I do enjoy a good book. Though I do have a tendency to read aloud...'

The Doctor sentence was cut off as Virgil pushed him down on the couch, giving him a perfect view of the field. Milo was roughly shoved down next to him by Dash.

'You know, for the head honcho I would have thought you'd have a better view than this.'

'Doctor...' Milo warned in a hushed voice.

'Well he should! I could barely tell who's playing from this distance.'

Milo was obviously growing more and more anxious, and given the situation, the Doctor didn't really blame him. But in the Doctor's many experiences the best thing to do was act confident and comfortable, even if you're not.

But Virgil didn't look perturbed by the comment. His lips curled up again in a sinister smile that was becoming more and more familiar. He then walked to the window and tapped the glass twice. As if the arena itself moved, what was outside seemed to be zoomed in as if on a computer, but it still had the crystal clear look of being just outside.

'How about now?' said Virgil.

'Polyfectus glass?' asked the Doctor, and Virgil nodded with a slight amount of disappointment, obviously expecting the Doctor to be completely bewildered. 'I have this on the TARDIS. Try not to use it though, I hear it's terrible for the eyes if you use it too much.' He paused. 'Can you still see the colour green?'

All of sudden the room began to tremble. The Doctor looked about urgently but saw that Virgil was not worried. Glancing out the viewing window he saw the thing that was blocking the view of the arena from them was pulled back. In its place was what almost looked like a maze.

There were two tubes that could be used as corridors, running next to each other throughout the field. There were sudden twists and turns but it didn't seem too complex. The worrisome part were the many obstacles and walls that seemed to break up each tunnel.

The Doctor's eyes squinted as he observed the arena. 'So each player runs through their own corridor and they have to answer questions, or puzzles, whatever is there to make the next door open. First one to the end wins.'

'That is the general concept.'

As Milo got off the couch to peer into the arena with the others, Tibby the Ood appeared over Virgil's shoulder.

'Would you like anything to drink, sir?'

'Yes, bring me my usual,' Virgil told the Ood, then turned to the Doctor and Milo. 'Would you like anything? Oh, wait, I forgot you're a bit tied up. Just the one then, Tibby.'

Tibby gave a quaint bow and went to get the drink, leaving Virgil to continue.

'You know, it is a good thing your friend will most likely not be meeting physically with the first creature she has to face, it will probably be quite a bit stronger than her. But then again, I am in charge. Perhaps I can arrange something special...'

He stared at them with a menacing smile as he sat down on the couch. But while the Doctor looked back in resolve Milo felt as though he was quickly unwinding.

'Why are you doing this?' asked Milo desperately. 'Making us watch, picking on Amy, I do not understand!'

'Because he can, he enjoys it,' said the Doctor. 'Why would you want to own people if you couldn't play some games with them. Am I right, Virgil?'

'Somewhat,' he agreed just before Tibby walked over with a small serving tray with a glass containing blood red liquid perched on it.

'Your drink, sir.'

'Thank you Tibby,' said Virgil, gently picking up the glass and taking a small sip. 'Doctor, while I do enjoy playing with my possessions that is not reason you two are here. I acknowledge that I do not own you and can never do so.' He frowned. 'But I will not tolerate an upset in the system, which you two are so obviously trying to cause. I am merely showing you what happens when you try to go against the wonderful system this planet has in place.'

'What about afterwards? What are you going to do with us?' Milo asked.

Virgil sipped his glass again, this time drawing it out and parting it from his lips with a satisfied sigh. He then regarded Milo.

'Well, that will have to depend on whether or not you have learned your lesson.'

* * *

Amy had been telling herself not to be scared. Repeating it over and over in her mind she told herself to stand tall and face whatever was out there. According to Lycan, Versutians valued intelligence over physical attributes, so the first part of the games was just seeing how clever you were. Amy hoped desperately she would be smart enough to take on whatever creature she would face. But while walking past the cells to get to the arena, fear started to creep back into her mind.

The cells were circular and futuristic looking, a blue hue glowing from them just like everything else on the planet. But a big difference was while everything else seemed extremely well kept and clean, these seemed dirty. It was cold and almost damp, added with the dim lighting it almost had the feel of a sewer.

Amy wrapped her arms around her chest, not only because of the cold but almost as if guarding herself from the growling and generally menacing looking creatures in the cells. Most were large, brutish creatures and slammed relentlessly onto the walls. They didn't seem very intelligent to her.

Lycan noticed Amy's observations. 'These are easy eliminators, since they cannot even speak. Mainly put out there for entertainment to see them lose. Something like this will be your first opponent.'

'I have to fight one of those things?' Amy said worriedly as they passed a particularly ferocious looking one, its teeth handing out the side of its mouth.

'And it will be the easiest thing you face out there, so enjoy it.'

A sudden chill ripped through Amy's body as she saw the end of the hall and the lift they were supposed to go in that would take her up to the arena. She had seen the lift before when they put Patches in his cell which was located right next to it.

Patches was sitting on the ground, curled up into a ball the way Amy had seen house cats do when they sleep. He looked pensive, but when he noticed her approaching he perked up and ran to the side of the cell. She jogged ahead of Lycan to meet him.

'Amy! Are you going in the games now?'

'Yeah, guess so...'

Patches tried to smile, but his eyes were obviously worried and sad. 'Well, good luck.'

'Thanks.'

Lycan caught up and gave Amy's shoulder a tug. 'We do not have time for this.'

'Just give me a second!' she exclaimed. To her surprise he nodded, taking his hand off her shoulder. 'Look, Patches, I don't know what's gonna happen to me or when I'll see you again. But you have to promise me that no matter what, just try to think of yourself and keep your chin up. You have to be brave.'

His grey ears flopped into his face as he shook his head. 'I can't, I'm too scared.'

'I know this whole situation is scary. I'm really scared too.'

'You are?'

'Yeah. But the only time you can truly be brave is when you're scared. If you're not, then it's too easy to need to use any courage.'

'I guess that makes sense...' he mumbled doubtfully.

'Just promise me you'll try.'

'I will.'

'Good.' She smiled warmly. She was giving his paw a rub through the bars when Lycan gave her another nudge. 'Alright, alright! I'm going.'

Patches gave a little wave behind her as they loaded on to the lift, which looked like a clear tube. It wasn't unlike some lifts she'd seen in posh hotels. As the doors closed, which barely left a seam to show they even opened, Amy waved back and Patches until she was out of his eyesight.

The next thing she knew the lift had arrived at the top, where there was a small wall with a door, leading out to what Amy assumed was the field.

'You ready?' Lycan asked without looking at her.

'Does it matter?'

'No.'

She gestured in front of her. 'Have at it then.'

Amy expected him to open the door. But instead, he punched his fingers down into something on his wrist, strapped on like a watch but obviously much more complex.

A voice abruptly sounded through speakers that Amy hadn't even known were there. It echoed from outside the walls of the room they were in as well.

'And now, we have a new player entering the field for her first round. A species we have long thought we would never see on Versutus. Give a large welcome to the human, Amelia!'


	17. Let The Games Begin

**Chapter 17**

The door slid upward, allowing a large amount of light to flood through. If Amy hadn't known it was night she would have thought it was the sun. Except it could be, considering she really had no idea how long nights on Versutus lasted.

But after being coaxed through the doorway by Lycan, she saw that it was just giant artificial lights spanning the ceiling of the vast arena.

Observing her immediate surroundings, she was incased in a clear material that was rounded at the top, but it closed in front of her, and as soon as she had gotten through the door, that had slammed down as well.

A crowd that consisted of mainly grey roared as she had entered. Just outside her glass casing a blue orb zoomed towards her, getting as close to the glass as it could without touching. She glanced upward at a giant, half-transparent monitor and saw her own current expression bearing back at her. Which wasn't the most flattering, to say the least: a mix of anxiety and fear.

Realising the orb was a camera, she faced it and waved her fingers tentatively, not entirely sure why she even bothered until all of a sudden there was a thud next to her, and Amy spun about with a jump.

Next to her was a glass room just like hers, and inside a creature was furiously pounding on the glass trying to get to her.

Along with being incredibly tall with a bulking form, it had to be one of the ugliest things Amy had ever seen. Red scales covered its body, but it had dark fur draping its shoulders and patched in a few other parts of the body. Pure green, baseball sized eyes bulged out of either side of its trapezoid like head. The mouth, or possibly a mouth, (it was where the mouth was at least) looked almost like an upside down fan made of tubes. But the thing that caught Amy's eye the most were its meaty hands; each sporting thick and sharp looking claws.

The creature banged on the glass and roared, causing Amy to inadvertently back up as far as she could. Noticing that there was another orb around the creature, she peered back up at the monitor. It now showed green-eyed thing.

'Also in for his first round, we have Titan, the Mandrel!'

The crowd screamed in delight at the announcement. But if Titan knew they were talking about him, or even talking at all, he didn't show it. He only seemed to be keen on getting to Amy and possibly ripping her to shreds.

The floating monitor was showing her again and she was taken aback by how terrified she looked. Straightening up, she tried her best to put on a fierce face.

Not bad, she thought to herself. But when the Mandrel roared again, she realised nothing could make her look half as ferocious as what was next to her. Maybe she didn't have to to look tough, though. Perhaps she just had to look clever.

'Ready yourselves, contestants. The doors will open in ten seconds!' the booming voice of the announcer declared. Amy readied herself by going into a lunging position. A few moments later, the entire arena, it seemed, was chanting along with the loud speaker.

'Five! Four! Three! Two! One!'

The doors opened and she bolted through. She had to skid to a halt fairly quickly when a new transparent wall blocked her way. The door she came through hissed shut, leaving her encased in another room.

Her opponent had torn into his own room as well, immediately back to hitting the wall that separated them.

Amy wasn't sure what to do. There didn't seem to be anything she could do. That is until shapes popped up on the wall in front of her like it was a screen. They then emerged from the wall, looking like what happened when you watched a 3D film.

There were three shapes; a sphere, a cube, and one strangely shaped object that didn't have a name Amy knew of. It had jagged edges and was uneven on either side.

Below it Amy could see the same shapes, but out of order and instead of popping out, it looked like they had been dug into the wall.

'Could it really be that simple...?' she muttered.

Reaching her hand up, she touched the 3D orb that wasn't really there as it was, pulling it down to the circular hole. The shape fell backwards into it, blinked twice, then the combined pair disappeared.

Amy did the same with the other two shapes. When all were gone, the transparent wall shot straight up, and Amy jogged through to the next room. Looking back, she could see her opponent had the same obstacle with different shapes to deal with, but it didn't seem to matter. The brutish creature continued hitting his shoulder against the glass, completely ignoring the puzzle.

As the crowd cheered her on, she wondered how this could be interesting at all. It seemed more like a game you gave to a small child than a sport to watch in an arena. But she was thankful for the simplicity either way.

With a new-found confidence, she waited for the next puzzle.

* * *

Patches could hear the crowd cheering above him. Though the thought of the games usually made him anxious, even queasy sometimes, he knew that they were cheering for Amy, making him feel refreshingly good.

'Amy's gonna get out of this, and maybe you will even too. Maybe you can get and and even see Livy, at least one more time.'

Patches mumbled the words and variations of such to himself over and over again. But no matter how many times he said it, his mind still refused to believe it. Amy had told him to be brave, and since he saw no way of getting out, he thought the best way to keep her promise was to at least try and keep his spirits up.

Eventually he couldn't lie to himself anymore, knowing that he was cold, alone, and just waiting for his turn to go in the games. Humans were rare, but cat-kinds were about the most common thing you could find on Versutus. They would have no problem with him dying.

The thoughts overtook him and he curled up into a ball on the bench, thinking about his mum and dad. He cried softly, the cheers from above and growls from the other cells the only thing he could hear. Until there was a sound of hushed calling.

'Milo! Milo are you down here? Amy? Doctor!'

Patches wiped the tears away from his eyes and ran to peer out of the cell. Down the hallway he could see a slim, blonde Versutian cautiously making her way through the corridor.

'Rheia!' shouted Patches. 'Over here!'

'Patches!' Rheia exclaimed as she trotted over. 'Finally, a friendly face.'

'How are you here? Did they catch you with Livy?'

'The police did have me for a while, but I know too much about their involvement with the games. They had to let me go.'

'How did you know where we were?' asked Patches.

'Well, when the police came I obviously realised things went bad, so I set up my MRM to track Milo's. It was headed here before it went out. They must have disconnected it.' Rheia glanced around the area. 'Where is everyone else?'

Patches looked down glumly. 'Amy is playing in the games right now! But I think she's doing OK.

'Ok... kind of hard to do anything about that right now then. What about Milo and the Doctor?'

'I'm not sure... Oh! Virgil said they were going to watch Amy play from his box.'

Rheia's face lit up. 'I know exactly where they are. Come on, let me get you out of here.'

* * *

Amy Pond was doing rather well. As they were told it would be, her opponent wasn't very smart. Milo knew for a fact that it couldn't even speak, having had some experience with Mandrels in the lab. It hadn't even made it through the first obstacle and Amy was already on her fourth.

The Doctor had been watching with a relaxed feel about him, contradicting any way Milo would have thought he should be acting. Considering they were being held against their will and forced to watch someone, who the Doctor had claimed was his friend, in a potentially dangerous situation, it was puzzling.

He was so relaxed in fact that he often made remarks as if he were watching a sports game he only had a few stakes in.

'Oh, good that's the right one! Thought she'd never get it right,' the Doctor had said in regard to a numbers challenge.

'No... no... there you go, Pond,' he'd remarked when she redrew the shape they were showing her incorrectly.

'Finally, she gets one on the first try!' the Doctor exclaimed when she successfully predicted the next symbols in a pattern they'd shown her.

The only reason Milo was staying shut about it was the fact that Virgil's gaze rarely left them, waiting for someone to say something of interest to him.

But eventually Milo couldn't take it any longer. 'Why are you criticising her? I thought she was your friend.'

'She is my friend. But she's not always the brightest thing. Most humans are that way, that's why I find them so amusing.'

Milo raised a sceptical eyebrow. 'I would think you would at least be a little worried.'

'Eh, she'll make it through. Look how far ahead she is!' The Doctor gestured toward the field where Amy now strutted six little rooms ahead of the Mandrel. She was looking at a screen that showed a stegosaurus and a T-Rex along with a timeline.

'Dinosaurs?' said Milo.

'In this part, we usually test the players with knowledge of history from where they were raised or lived a significant part of their life,' explained Virgil.

'But you lot haven't been to earth in quite some time,' remarked the Doctor, shifting his shoulders into a more comfortable position. 'A bit low on more current history, eh?'

'I'm afraid so,' laughed Virgil.

Milo huffed in frustration and leant backwards. Why were they acting like a pair of old drinking buddies? The Doctor may be used to high-stake situations, and given Virgil's occupation he almost certainly was, but was this really a time for idle chit chat?

Eventually Amy seemed to figure out that stegosaurus came some time before the T-rex and was able to advance to the next room.

But something made her abruptly turn around, inspecting the area behind her.

The Mandrel had broken through the glass of one room and was now bolting towards Amy. He only had to knock on the clear substance three or four times before breaking it now, and he was making his way through every little room.

The Doctor had become noticeably rigid, but still laid back in his seat.

'What's going on?' asked Milo.

As if in answer to his question, the announcer chimed in.

'Oh no! Looks like we are having some technical issues with the e-fields that keep the barriers in place. If they do not get fixed soon, we are going to have a little early confrontation on our hands!'

Half the crowd booed while the others cheered, either truly concerned for the contestants but more likely just worried about their bids.

Amy looked frantically around for something to help her. It was probably just an automatic response, as she must have known there was nothing in the transparent rooms but the screens and doors. She looked down at her current puzzle and began studying it.

'Well, would you look at that folks! Nothing can distract little Amelia here, not even impending doom!' the announcer's upbeat voice rang through the stadium. 'Titan sure is getting awfully close.'

He was right. The creature was at the doorway of Amy's current room, having smashed into her tube just a few seconds earlier.

The final barrier was broken and Amy shielded her eyes from the flying shards of glass. She turned around from the puzzle to gaze at the creature. A large arm with a claw at the end swung at her, but she ducked out of the way nimbly. The Mandrel had a lot of strength and could probably kill her with one swipe, but he was also pretty slow, lumbering with every step.

The whole arena suddenly flickered, almost unnoticeably.

'And the e-field is back up!' shouted the announcer. 'Back luck for Amelia, looks like she is going to have to hold her own in there. And on the last puzzle, too!'

'Oh, what bad timing,' Virgil said with a smirk.

The Doctor cocked his head head toward Virgil without looking away from the field. 'You set that up?'

'Of course I did. That e-field is perfectly fine.'

Milo stood up quickly, his mouth gaping with shock. 'What? That is not fair! No one is going to believe that was a coincidence. Are there not rules to these games?'

Virgil laughed. 'My dear boy, what do you think this is? We are in an illegal underground arena, there are very few rules to be heard of.'

Milo blinked rapidly, at a loss for words. He looked back to the field where Amy was ducking and bobbing away from the Mandrel to the screaming crowd.

Looking back at the Doctor, he saw him leaning in towards the viewing window, face in deep concentration.

'Aren't you going to do something?' Milo shouted at him.

The Doctor looked up at Milo, shaking his wrists behind his back. 'What am I going to do? I just want to get out of here. As soon as these games are over I hope to be able to leave.'

Virgil stepped towards him, intrigue filling his tiny eyes.

Milo stared blankly at the Doctor. 'But Amy-'

'Amy has such a low percentage of leaving this place it's ridiculous to even consider her escape anymore. I would preferably like to leave with Amy but one of us getting out of here is better than none,' the Doctor admitted.

Virgil seemed pleased with this, a smile curling up the side of his mouth. He then opened his mouth to say something, but the loud voice of the announcer cut him off.

'And she is through!'

The three of them simultaneously looked down at the field. Sure enough, Amy was out of the room, the Mandrel banging on the door behind her. She backed away slowly, trying to catch her breath.

Looking up at the screen there was a replay of what they missed during their exchange. Amy had thrown her shoe at Titan's eyes and then another behind him, momentarily making think she had run behind him. While his back was turned she finished the puzzle that was in front of her, narrowly making it into the next room before the creature was on her again.

'Amelia the human wins!'

Amy head whipped around the stadium confusedly, obviously still overwhelmed from the unprecedented fight. She seemed a little less frazzled when two cat-kind came out and flanked her, leading her out of the arena.

'Amelia will be back for round two in just a little while. Meanwhile, we have Fang the Ogron VS Strider the Cat-Kind!'

The announcer began explaining the next match, but no one in Virgil's box paid any mind to him.

'Well, that is that,' said Virgil.

'That's that?' repeated the Doctor. 'So you're just going to let us go?'

'Oh, not quite. But I can see that I will not have to kill you. Your placid response to when the human was in danger assured me you will not be too much of a problem. I will have to have someone see you off-planet of course. But if you wish you can wait until she is put up for auction and try to bid for her, though I doubt you have the money.'

'You're probably wrong about that. To be honest I'm not that good with money, but I have a lot.' He paused. 'Well, I'm pretty sure.'

'Just as well, the price may be somewhat reduced as she will most likely be in tatters.'

Virgil glared at the Doctor as he said this, but he managed to keep calm.

'That's too bad. I'm sure I could pay for her undamaged.'

'Truly a shame,' agreed Virgil with a nod. 'Well, I don't see why the restraints are necessary any more. And if you can convince your Versutian friend to stay calm, they can be removed from him as well.'

Virgil beckoned for Tibby and soon the Doctor and Milo were free to use their hands again.

'Ah yes, that's much better. Always nice to have the facade of not being held against your will when you're going to be kept in a place like this. Eh, Milo?'

'Uh... yes, right,' he responded vacantly.

The Doctor hoped he was starting to catch on to the fact that he was acting the way he was for a reason. Based on the lack of complaining and talking in general, that seemed to be going well.

'Now I can truly enjoy the splendour of this place!' said the Doctor as he wandered around the room. 'Spared no expense I see, everything is just lovely...'

The Doctor allowed himself to ramble. People tended to eventually tune him out when he did, and that's exactly what he was going for. No one paying him any mind. He just had to get the blaster from Dash's holder... It really was his last option. He had to get to Amy before she went into the next round, which was bound to include a lot more physical violence than this one, even with the unexpected bit. Plus if the gun was on stun, it really wouldn't be causing too much harm.

'And the pillows! Just magnificent.' He picked up a pillow, flourishing it right in front of Dash's face, his other hand crept into the holster...

But Dash gripped it quickly before he hand a chance to grab the gun.

'What do you think you're doing?' asked Dash, as he held the Doctor's hand in the air.

'Er... showing you this fantastic pillow?' The Doctor smiled, but was only met with a cold stare. Milo groaned.

Virgil frowned from across the room. 'Looks like you've been putting on a charade. Maybe I will not be able to let you go after all...'

There was an uneasy silence in the room, but it was broken by quick, high-pitched noise of a single shot from a blaster.

The Doctor was released as Dash crumbled to the ground. Virgil had only glanced at the shooter before another blast rang through the air and he too was on the floor.

The Doctor and Milo looked over to the doorway as Rheia stepped inside, Patches trailing in quickly behind her like a shadow.

'Anyone call for a rescue squad?'


	18. Out of the Frying Pan

**Chapter 18**

'What are you doing? Shooting people all willy nilly!' the Doctor shouted.

'Hey, no need to act so surprised! I saw you reaching for that companion's gun,' said Rheia defensively as she lowered her weapon.

'Yes, but I wasn't going to use it, just threaten.' He paused. 'Probably. And it would have been on stun.'

'Mine was on stun! What kind of person do you think I am?'

'Oh,' said the Doctor, giving the unconscious Dash a little nudge with his foot. 'Well, that is good, but probably means we should get out of this general area.'

'We have some time, they should be out for a while,' said Rheia. 'Are you guys OK?'

'Fine,' replied Milo. 'But it is good you showed up when you did, looks like things were maybe about to get messy...' he said, eying the Doctor accusingly.

'I had a plan!'

'If it was grabbing the Cheetah-man's gun, it failed,' Milo said.

The Doctor waved him off. 'Oh, that was just plan one. You should have seen plan three, that's where it got really good.'

'Hi Doctor!' Patches had managed enough courage to come out from behind Rheia's legs, and he gave the Doctor an energetic wave.

'Ah Patches, good to see you!' said the Doctor as he gave the catkind a pat on the head.

Rheia coughed, calling all the attention back to her. 'Even though they might be out for a while that still does not mean we should hang about all day.'

'Right... right! Amy is in trouble,' the Doctor stated.

'Thank you Captian Obvious,' said Rheia, rolling her eyes.

'What I mean is, we really need to get her out before the next round. This one was easy but I'm worried about what the next one holds.'

'May I be of any assistance?'

The sudden voice caused them all to jump, Rheia immediately flinging her blaster out.

'No, no!' The Doctor put himself in front of the gun with his arms spread from side to side. 'That's just Tibby the Ood. He's doesn't mean any harm.'

'May I be of any assistance?' he repeated, his translation ball being held in front of his cocked head.

'Nope, we're fine,' said the Doctor.

'Actually, it would be great if you could go sit over there, on the other side of the room,' said Milo.

The Ood bowed dutifully and made his way to a couch a few metres away. The Doctor gave Milo a puzzled look while Rheia raised her eyerbows.

'We would not want him listening in on us, just in case, right?' Milo shrugged, and the two nodded.

'So... what do we do?' asked Rheia.

Patches jumped excitedly. 'I bet my whiskers the Doctor has a plan!'

'Keep your whiskers Patches, because you're right. First things first, you lot need to go get the TARDIS. Milo should remember where she is. When I find out where I want you to go, I'll call the TARDIS, give you the co-ordinates and walk you through a quick trip. Shouldn't be too hard since it's so close. Rheia, do you have an MRM?'

'Well I _did_ until your sonic thing made a mess of it. But I managed to get it working when I went back to the lab, so hopefully it holds up.'

'Good. I'm going to be needing it. Don't worry, I'll make sure it won't go anywhere near my screwdriver,' he added when she gave him a sceptical look.

She handed over her communication device, which the Doctor only glanced over for a moment before pocketing it on the inside of his jacket, tacking the place of his absent sonic screwdriver.

'So, what are you going to do then?' asked Milo.

'I'm going to get Amy.'

Rheia snorted. 'Oh, like it is that simple.'

'It is!'

'So how do you intend on doing it?'

'Well, I haven't thought out the details quite yet, but don't worry, they're cooking in here.' The Doctor gave the side of his head a couple light taps.

Rheia shook her head with exasperation. 'Well, that is reassuring.'

'Good!' said the Doctor gleefully, missing the sarcasm. 'Let's get going, shall we?'

Before they had a chance to move, the Doctor felt a tug on his jacket, looking down to see Patches pulling at it.

'I want to go with you, Doctor.'

The Doctor smiled warmly at the youth. It never ceased to surprise him how much people wanted to take care of each other, no matter what world he was on.

'Give us a moment,' the Doctor said to Rheia and Milo. After they nodded and walked out of the room, the Doctor crouched down to his haunches. 'That's not really the best idea. You'll be much safer in the TARDIS.'

'But I promised Amy I'd be brave.'

The Doctor smiled, and put his hands on Patches' furry grey shoulders. 'You are being brave just by offering to go back down there. Those cells must have been scary for you.'

'Yeah. But Amy said the only time you can be brave is when you're scared.'

The Doctor nodded, breathing out a small laugh. 'And she's right. But I know she'd want you to be safe. I want you to be safe. Going to the TARDIS is honestly the best thing you can do right now.'

Patches looked down, lifting one side of his mouth in an unsure smile. 'Ok. But make sure Amy knows I was brave.'

'I will deliver the message myself.' The Doctor stood. 'You better catch up with Rheia and Milo.'

Patches nodded. 'Right.' He motioned to leave, but turned around and waved across the room. 'Bye Tibby!'

'Have a pleasant day, sir,' replied the Ood.

Patches giggled. 'He called me sir.'

'Well, you're nothing less! Now go on.'

The Doctor watched Patches leave the room and meet up with Milo and Rheia where they were waiting down the hall.

'Right, now to find Amy,' the Doctor said to himself, and sighed. 'I should really start to keep better track of my companions if I'm going to have them. Hey, there's an idea, trackers!'

He looked next to him to see Tibby the Ood, his large eyes blinking slowly as he watched the Doctor.

'And I'll be putting that on the list right after 'stop talking to self,'' he said to the Ood.

'Is there anything I can get you, sir?' the Ood said in his usual monotone, but pleasant, voice.

'Haven't got a redhead on you, I suppose?'

'I do not believe so, sir.'

'Didn't think so. Well, Tibby, it's been fun. Love to catch up sometime, but for right now, geronimo.'

* * *

Amy never thought she'd wish to be back in the chilly, dark cells, but that was exactly what she thinking at the moment.

Instead they had brought her to the 'winner's quarters', and despite the name, it was basically just a cage right outside the ring. It seemed to be made of the same clear material as the rooms within the games. Anybody who won a round would go there to wait for the next one. Apparently, this way, any member of the audience could come down and see the winners up close, maybe so they could decide better if they want to bid on them later. Considering she was a species that no one on the planet had ever seen before, she guessed she was probably more popular than the cat-kind and Ogron (whatever that was) on the field at the moment.

Versutians were surrounding her little enclosure, heads pressed up against the glass like excited children on a trip to the zoo. They shouted her field name and made calls that reminded her of trying to summon a cat or a dog.

Despite feeling a small victory at being called her earth name for the games, she really really didn't like hearing her real name on all these strangers. Since she'd changed it to Amy it had become more of a private thing, mainly her family or close friends calling her that. But to hear it form all these people was just... strange.

She sat in the centre of the enclosure, not daring to even sit on the bench that had been supplied since it would put her too close to her watchers. Instead she curled her knees into her chest and tried to drown out the noise. It would have been her first instinct to bury away her face as well, but she had to stay alert. It was important that she keep her eyes peeled for anything that could get her out of the situation. With the Doctor caught, her best bet may have been getting herself out.

The odds were definitely not in her favour.

* * *

The Doctor had left Virgil's box, deciding to go in the opposite direction he had seen the others leave by. He wished he'd have asked Rheia which direction the cells were in from here, because once he left the room it became apparent he had no idea.

Walking briskly he held his shoulders high in an attempt to make it seem as though he belonged there, but there weren't too many passerby to be fooled, thankfully.

As he went the the quality of the hallway seemed to decrease, and he realised that he must be getting closer to the cheap seats, if there were any.

'Maybe it's the other way...' the Doctor said to himself as he turned around.

'Hey!'

The voice wasn't loud, but the abruptness of a figure, even a small one, when he turned about made the Doctor yelp and flail his arms up in surprise.

'Sorry,' giggled Patches.

'Patches,' the Doctor said, nearly whispering, through heavy breathing brought on by the start, 'what are you doing here? '

'You went the wrong way,' he said, grinning impishly.

'But I told you to go back to the TARDIS!' The Doctor heaved a defeated sigh. 'I don't know why I'm surprised, my companions never listen to me. Apparently even miniature ones.' He lowered his hand from his own height to Patches, pushing down his ears a little. 'What did you tell Rheia and Milo?'

'That you said I could come with you.' He shrugged, and went on all fours as he ran some paces back the way they'd come. 'C'mon, we're in a hurry, aren't we?'

The Doctor trotted after him.

It turned out the Doctor had started the right way but missed the door that led to the cells. It wasn't locked, and he credited that to the fact they were in the box seats. After making their way down a dimly lit and somewhat dirty stairway, they made it back to what Patches had told the Doctor was the cell they'd put him in last time he was down there.

They searched the whole floor but to no avail. The only creatures they found there were incapable of speaking.

Even after splitting up it had taken them quite a bit of time to check the cells thoroughly. Some were pretty full, and with all the growls they weren't sure if Amy was on the floor that she would be able to hear them calling her. There was also a monitor in the corner of the room broadcasting the current events in the games, definitely not helping with the noise levels.

'We'll never find her at this rate,' the Doctor sighed.

'Um, I think I just have.'

The Doctor lifted his chin from its troubled drooping to see Patches pointing to the monitor floating near the wall. It displayed an image that half relieved and half disturbed him.

Amy was in the centre of another clear room, but this time it seemed that the audience members could walk right up to it as if she were some kind of exhibit.

He couldn't help but scowl at the sight, but knew he needed to control his anger in front on Patches. Not to mention that getting angry wasn't going to help the situation any.

'Where is she?' asked Patches.

'Looks to be just outside the arena,' the Doctor answered, then shook his head. 'But it doesn't matter, she's surrounded by people. We won't be able to get her out of there before the next round starts.'

'We can't save her then?'

The Doctor sighed. He honestly wasn't sure. If they couldn't get her before the next round started, what if she got hurt when it did? What if there was no way to get her out even after that?

But then he got an idea.

'Patches, follow me.'

The Doctor led them to the lift that Patches had said Amy went up when she went into the games. And based on his sense of direction, the arena was just next to that.

The Doctor immediately pressed his hands up against the wall, feeling the area.

'What are you doing?' asked Patches.

'I'm just feeling this area next to the lift. Come on now, keep up!'

'I can see that!'

'Oh good, glad to know your eyes are working,' said the Doctor without looking up. 'I was worried.'

'Yes, but I meant _why_ are you feeling the wall?'

'Well, that is an entirely different story.' The Doctor cleared his throat, but continued investigating. 'You see, this entire arena seems to made up of electromagnetic fields. Versutians seem to love the technology. So I'm pretty sure they built the whole area with panels held together with that technology.' The Doctor gave the wall a few knocks with a fist. 'And that happens to break down often. So naturally you'll need to do a lot of maintenance. But since things are usually going on up top...'

The Doctor gave an area one final knock, causing seems to form the outline of a door.

'...they'll have to have some tunnels directly underneath.'

He pushed the door in, causing it to move backwards before sliding out of their way. Patches tentatively stuck his head into the small space, but it was pitch black.

'So...' he started, bringing pulling his head back into the light, 'what does all that mean?'

'It means, barring unforeseen complications that actually tend to pop up often, we're going to get Amy out_ during_ round two.'

* * *

Amy looked up at the monitor to watch the current round of the games. To be honest, they didn't seem particularly interesting to her. All the creatures were doing was solving riddles and that didn't seem like it would make for very good sport.

The two creatures that faced each other were a calico cat-kind and something she had never seen before, but she learnt it was called an Ogron. If she managed to make it off this planet alive, she would at least be able to say she added many species to her mental alien dictionary.

The Ogron was humanoid, but it was a very dark colour. The top of its head held a wisp of hair done up in a rat-tail. Pretty intimidating, giving its size was probably close to seven feet and it had a bulking form.

For most of the race, the cat-kind seemed to be in the lead. But it was stumped by the last question. Something to do with cat-kind history. The Ogron had pulled ahead and he was now being congratulated as the winner.

Amy had become fairly relaxed, almost like she was just watching tellie in her own house. She had a stance for this: she like to tuck her legs beneath herself as she sat on the couch. Of course their wasn't a couch, and the tellie was in the centre of a giant arena in the middle of transparent cage with spectators peering in at her, but details.

Her relaxed state may have been why she got so startled by the sudden sound of the door opening. It opened with a hiss, and before it was ajar, the seamless glass wouldn't have let anyone know there was even a door there.

Lycan was standing there while crowds of people butted their heads in to try and get a good look at Amy. Two cat-kind, who seemed to be working security, fended off the public.

'Time to go,' he said.

'Oh, but it was just getting good!' she replied, pointing to the screen. 'Five more minutes?'

Lycan apparently didn't like her jest, as he began to head purposefully toward Amy. But, with a sigh, she stood up and met him half way.

Fighting back a crowd of, for lack of a better word, fans, Lycan proceeded to take Amy back to where she entered round one. If round two's creature was only a little more clever than the first, she was hoping she could outsmart this one as well. But when she saw the field from an arial view on a monitor, Amy was puzzled by the contents.

Instead of the corridors that had been in place for round one, there was nothing. Just the empty arena. There seemed to be a few large blocks now lining it, but the centre was bare.

'Why does it look so different?' she asked Lycan, worry present in her voice.

'You do not know?' he asked, and she would have thought he was making fun of her, but his mocking smile wasn't there on his face. He was truly surprised.

'Don't know what?'

'You have to face the winner of the two that just played.'

'Right, I got that. But where are all the puzzles and stuff?'

Lycan shook his head. 'You have both proven some intelligence. Now we see who is stronger.'

'So that means...?' Amy allowed her question to trail off. She was fairly certain she knew what that meant, but given the fact that she didn't want to believe it, she had to ask.

'You have to physically fight the Ogron.'


	19. And Into the Fire

**Chapter 19**

The rational thing for Amy to be feeling would have to be fear. After all, she was about to go face to face with a rather large alien. But she was through being scared. She had no idea where the Doctor was, if he was hurt or even if he was still on the same planet as her anymore.

And it wasn't like she didn't have a chance. This thing was dumber than her, she knew that. Lycan explained that even though this round was a test of mostly physical abilities, the arena was laid out in a way that if you were clever enough you could use it to your advantage. She had to count on that.

Amy was having a sense of deja vu, which of course wasn't deja vu at all. It was the same lift, same doors, same dazzling light that shone into her eyes when they opened.

But now things were different. Her opponent wasn't right next to her, it was clear across the field. She could barely make it out. Though she knew they were both in their little clear rooms, just waiting for the round to start.

The countdown began as it did before and the crowd sang with it with just as much gusto as the first time.

She hopped eagerly in her stance that was ready to charge on to the field. And when the countdown hit zero, that's exactly what she did.

As the doors to their rooms simultaneously opened, Fang, the Ogron, did the same thing. But he had to add a a howl of anger to his charge. Amy didn't want to waste a breathe and bee-lined for a large cube that lined the wall. She was somewhat aware of the announcer narrating her and the Ogron's every move, but she did her best to ignore him. Each cube seemed about a metre and half long, just short enough for her arms to lift up her body. Looking behind her, she saw the Ogron charging as she hoisted herself onto the platform. The arena was large so he still had some ways to go, but he was definitely gaining. By the time she started climbing onto the third cube, her arms felt like jelly.

'If I make it out of this...' she huffed to herself as pulled onto the platform, 'I'm so going to the gym more often.'

Glancing down, she saw the Ogron just starting on the first cube. He pulled himself up with ease, his height and no doubt his strength giving him an advantage.

Amy had to keep going, but the cubes were no longer stacking themselves upward. In front of her and lined across the arena wall they were in a row horizontally across, but there was a fairly big space in between each of them.

Jumping was of course the only option, and she couldn't help but smile to herself.

'Geronimo!' she shouted, taking her leap and landing gracefully with her feet planted on the next cube. Again she jumped, and again. The fourth time she lost her footing just enough to fall to her knees once her feet hit the cube, but she didn't go to the arena ground.

The Ogron was on the highest of the first set of cubes now, and able to look at Amy straight ahead.

'Come here, orange one!' he shouted in a gruff voice, leaving Amy somewhat stunned to learn that he could speak. 'If you end the chase I won't hurt you so much, just kill you!'

Amy put her hand on her hip and patted her finger to her lip. She couldn't resist a little melodrama, no matter the circumstances.

'As tempting as the that offer is, I'm going to have to pass,' she shouted back.

'Fine. Slow death is good too,' he growled, then fired his body over to the next cube. But he was too heavy. He didn't carry across nearly as swiftly as Amy and caught the edge of the cube, clinging and clutching the edge while trying to dig his broken fingernails into it before sliding right of the edge, and landing with a hard thud on the ground below.

Fang looked up to see Amy, leaning her head over her current cube and gave him a taunting wave with the twirl of her fingers. He growled in anger before picking himself up and starting the climbing process all over again.

Amy wanted to be sure and put as much distance as she could between them and readied herself for the next jump. Before she did, she noticed that the next cube had a different pattern. While the previously were all a solid black, this one was splashed with a white pattern of circles.

Not really thinking too much of the Versutians cube decorating techniques, she jumped anyway, thumping down with a perfect landing. It wasn't until the cube shook that she fell to the ground of it, hunched over on all fours.

It then detached completely from the wall, and Amy felt herself flung to the side. She kept hold by putting her hands on each side of the cube, ducking down but still on the soles of her feet to keep traction.

The cube began moving to the other side of the arena, and when it reached there it rebounded back where it a had come from.

'Looks like Amelia cannot read Versutian well enough to be able to understand the warning those cubes cubes had written on them. Sometimes speaking a language just is not enough!'

Had she been speaking Versutian? Probably, the TARDIS translation thingy worked even when she didn't realise it. But apparently it didn't do so well with written words...

Amy clung on to the cube for dear life, but there was no way she could make it to another without falling to the ground. And the Ogron was close enough that if that happened, it would be game over.

Maybe that meant it was only a matter of time.

* * *

'Oh my,' said Rheia, somewhat awestruck as she stepped into the TARDIS.

'I know. It really is something, is it not?'

Rheia examined her surroundings by spinning in a slow circle. When she saw the corridors, she immediately wanted to run down them to see how far they went. If just the console room was bigger, who knew how large the whole ship was?

She turned abruptly to Milo. 'Oh Milo, could you imagine if we could hook this thing up in the lab and run some tests?'

'If you recall Rheia, we are a biological lab. Not engineers.'

'I know. But it still would be amazing to examine. Plus just being in here... it almost feels like it is alive.'

As if agreeing with her, the TARDIS suddenly gurgled a high pitched noise, and they were both pondering for just a moment if it were true.

Then another noise emitted from the TARDIS, one they were much less familiar with than the noises of a spaceship: the ring of an old fashioned telephone.

Rheia approached the ringing thing cautiously, wondering if she had tripped an alarm of some sort. But there weren't any warning lights to go with it, so she assumed it was just his communication device.

Milo came up beside her and grabbed the phone, holding it out in front of him as the cord dangled to the receiver.

'Hello?' he said.

There was a mumbled, quiet response, and he realised that it had to be held closer.

'...so you're going to have to listen to every word I say exactly, because she's not used to other pilots-'

'Doctor!' shouted Milo, stopping his ramble. 'I missed the whole start to what you were saying.'

'Well what were you doing, we are on a very tight schedule! No matter, I said: 'Oh good! You've made it to the TARDIS. That's a good start. Now all you need to do is pilot her over here. We're not too far away which is probably the only thing that is going make this even slightly possible so you're going to have to listen to ever word I say-'

'Thanks, all caught up,' Milo told him. 'Now what exactly are these driving instructions?'

The Doctor gave Milo a watered down lesson on how to pilot the TARDIS. In fact, it was so watered down that if you were to drink it you could probably only taste the water, maybe with a hint of lemon. But he had hopes that the short distance paired with the TARDIS being clever would get them there.

When he heard his ship's familiar rasping sound of landing, he knew that it had worked. The door shot open and a somewhat disoriented Versutian staggered out.

'Is it usually that bumpy?' asked Rheia. 'Or is he just a bad driver?'

'Hey, I thought I did pretty well!' Milo's voice came from inside the blue doors, but he soon popped a head out.

'You did!' the Doctor shouted gleefully as he ran towards them. 'Absolutely brilliant. Beyond brilliant, seeing as you got her here in one piece. I was wondering if we may not have had to go back for half of her.'

'What that a possibility?'

'Yes, probably. Maybe not. We're speaking in hypotheticals, anything is of course possible! In theory.'

He rushed past Milo into the TARDIS, feeling the warm familiarity fill him up before noticing something popping out of the TARDIS console.

'Oh, you clever girl you! Already made me a new one.'

He picked up the sonic screwdriver, an identical twin to his old one and gave it a buzz. Perfect condition.

He ran out of the TARDIS, passed the two Versutians to where Patches was standing.

'So, where are we exactly?' asked Rheia.

The Doctor raised his sonic to the ceiling. 'Let me give you a visual...'

He held his finger down on the screwdriver and the ceiling disappeared. Vanished. Light flooded into the bare hallway until a cube passed over them, causing a shadow to come with it. But it came as soon as it went.

'Under the arena field?' Milo said incredulously.

'Yes!' answered the Doctor.

'I take it they cannot see us?' Rheia guessed.

'Nope, it's like a one-way mirror.'

'Hey, there's Amy!'

Patches paw was following the thing he was pointing to: the moving cube. The Doctor could see Amy clinging on to it, her feet hanging over the edge as she tried to clamber up. It seemed as if she was going to fall any moment.

'Ok good. Now we just need to get her out from there and into the TARDIS fast enough for no one to catch us. Simple.'

The Doctor stared at the moving cube, following it back and forth with his eyes. He flinched when he saw the expectant stares directed at him.

'Why... aren't you doing anything?' asked Patches.

'Well, I have to wait for her to fall of course,' the Doctor said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Rheia growled in frustration. 'Can you just assume that nothing is obvious? Clearly you know more than the rest of us, at least sometimes.'

'Fine, I'll explain it. When she falls, I can sonic one of the panels that make up the field so that she'll fall again, right through the field and down here. Then we all go in the TARDIS and zipideedoda, we're home free. It's not that complicated, at least for you lot who claim to be so clever.'

They all stared at him, no one speaking a word. The Doctor thought he may have gone too far.

'I'm sorry, that was a bit harsh. I think I'm tense.' He rolled his head around his shoulders in an attempt to loosen up. 'This situation is definitely tensy, if that were a word.'

'Uh, Doctor?'

'Yes Patches?'

'Look behind you.'

The Doctor spun around, quickly realising Patches meant for him to look up as well. He then understood that the group hadn't been staring in silence at him, but the scene unfolding above them.

The moving cube Amy was dangling from was fast approaching the other side of the field, and waiting for her with open arms ready to claw at something, was the Ogron.

'He is going to grab her right off that thing!' shouted Milo.

The Ogron was on the closest stationary cube, a distance that he could easily jump and rip Amy off her moving one. Having come to this conclusion as well she let herself drop, but just metres before it got to him.

She landed on her feat momentarily before falling to her backside and hissed in pain. She quickly rubbed her ankles for just a moment before trying to get up, which didn't go so well. All the while the Ogron was jumping down the cube ladder to get to her.

In a moment he would have her, and they were clear across the field.

'C'mon!' shouted the Doctor as he began to run, the whole group following close behind.

* * *

Amy didn't get up fast enough. She couldn't. The fall at the very least had sprained her ankles and she only had mere moments before the Ogron was on her. He hoisted her clear into the air, hand around her neck as she clawed and gasped for air. He was clearly enjoying her struggle. So were many Versutians in the stands as they watched what they came for. But it could probably be said that no one enjoyed the sight so much as Virgil.

'Looks like he is getting ready to end it,' observed Lycan as he stood near the vast window.

Virgil nodded. 'Yes, well, let us hope he keeps his promise of prolonging her death. That should make it painful...'

'Uh, right.' Lycan saw the Ogron throw Amy forcefully to the ground, watching her start to crawl away before picking her up again. It seemed he had decided to make it a slow death. But when he slammed her harshly against the wall, Lycan began to wonder just how slow... 'How long are we going to chance it? We do not want him killing her.'

Virgil raised a finger to the air, but his eyes never left the field. 'Correction: you do not want him killing her. Shame for you, as I am the one who gets what he wants.'

'But... we agreed we would get her out!' Lycan protested. 'She is worth too much-'

'That was before her silly friends made a fool of me! She did as well, and I was willing to let it pass... but now nothing would give me more joy than watching her die.'

'She is mine.'

'She _was_ yours. You entered her into my games where there was the chance she would die. I owe you nothing.'

Lycan was about to respond, but said nothing. Virgil could have him removed in a moment with just a single outburst, and despite the betrayal, he didn't want to lose him as a business partner.

Amy was on the ground again, but this time the Ogron was approaching her with increased malice. He had blood all around the centre of his face. Lycan looked up at the large monitor at the top of the arena to see an instant replay. The Ogron had had her pinned to the wall, by her shoulders this time, seemingly about to punch her. She suddenly stretched her neck out and bit him on the nose, shaking her head like a rabid dog before finally letting go.

The Ogron was mad. Livid. Lycan would be surprised if she lived through the next blow. The human seemed to sense it as well, her eyes wide with fear as she desperately tried to get up.

But she didn't get up, she fell. Fell into the floor. It was as if a hole had just popped up in the middle of the field.

The Ogron looked puzzled for a moment, but then began batting at the ground where she had fallen with his fists. It was obviously solid again.

'Well folks, that is new!' announced the announcer. 'Perhaps they added short-range teleports to the field, no one told me though!'

Lycan barely noticed the small smirk that crossed his face because beside him, Virgil was shaking in rage. Abruptly he stood up, backhanding a bottle of wine he had had brought out for him before letting out a frustrated scream.

'He took her. That damn Doctor did this! He is down there and now he has his precious human back.'

Lycan was stunned. He had never seen Virgil so upset. He had seen him with his usual scary demeanour, but most of the time he remained calm.

Virgil walked over to the table and seemed to be scanning it for an object. He spotted something, lifting it up slowly.

'But it makes no difference, Doctor,' Virgil said, now back to his signature, calm but dangerous tone. 'She can die just as easily in your arms.'

The deranged man turned around, and Lycan could see him holding an object that had formally been his: a small silver remote.


	20. The Great Escape

**Chapter 20**

Amy yelped when the floor disappeared from beneath her, helping her dodge what would have been certain death. She landed in someone's arms and her first thought was about the pain from the bruises that were surely developing on her backside. But when she saw who was holding her she the pain all but vanished.

'Doctor!' she squealed, throwing her arms around him and he squeezed her tightly in return. The embrace made her feel so safe she thought she may never let go.

Abruptly she did, and gave the Doctor a stern look.

'Am I dead?' she asked seriously as her feet dropped to the ground.

'What? No. We're rescuing you, obviously. Don't you see the rescue party? Love a good rescue.'

She barely began to survey the group when a loud banging came from above. Looking up, she saw the Ogron and gave a loud shriek.

'Don't worry, he can't get us here. The arena is totally stable.'

Patches suddenly lifted his nose, sniffing the air. 'Do you smell that?'

The Doctor took a whiff. Then a much larger, deeper whiff. 'That's not good...'

Milo sniffed, but couldn't smell anything. 'What is it?'

'Oh dear,' said the Doctor, after quickly scanning the ceiling and giving a quick look at the readings. 'They're trying to lower the electro-magnetic plating that makes up the arena.'

Rheia's eyes turned wide. 'We need to get out of here!'

'Don't worry, I can slow it down.' The Doctor held his sonic into the air as they began to run back towards the TARDIS. It looked like he was holding up some invisible force, as he seemed to be putting a lot of effort into holding the screwdriver up.

'What's going on?' asked Patches as they ran.

'In simple terms... they are lowering the arena floor so it crushes us,' said Milo.

That was just the explanation Amy and Patches needed to make the strides to their sprint faster.

They hadn't even gotten half way to the TARDIS when Amy fell forward. Her screams filled the air immediately and all four of the others stopped dead in their tracks to stare dumbly at her.

'Amy? Amy you have have to move!' shouted the Doctor. But she couldn't hear him. Blue sparks, increased in both amount and size from the last time, sprang furiously from her neck.

The Doctor looked at the sonic screwdriver desperately. He couldn't stop holding up the building. He tried to call to her again but she just remained on her knees, hands tensing into the ground in front of he as she cried out.

Rheia, Milo and Patches were all staring dumbfounded. When Rheia managed to wrap her head around the situation she gave Milo a quick backhand to the shoulder so he'd do the same. They jogged over to the screaming girl where Milo quickly, but not without compassion, threw her over his shoulder. He flinched slightly as the sparks made contact with his own skin.

Amy didn't thrash or seem to protest being carried, but she continued to shout.

'Doctor, move it!' Rheia shouted as she gave him small shove.

Again they were sprinting down the hallway. When they were nearly to the TARDIS, the Doctor noticed it had gotten quieter. No more screaming.

'I... I don't think she's breathing!' said Patches, who was running behind Milo.

The Doctor was in the lead and pushed open the TARDIS doors. 'Get in, get in!'

They ran past him into the machine. After they were all in, the Doctor backed up until his sonic screwdriver was the only thing still outside, then he pulled it in and hastily pulled the door shut.

Milo gently laid Amy down on her back in the middle of the room and began to inspect her, but the Doctor ran past the pair and straight to the centre console.

He had to go somewhere. Anywhere, it didn't matter.

The Doctor finished setting the course with a flick of a lever and listened as the TARDIS's signature sound signalled their take-off. As the noise rang, the blue sparks emitting from the collar began to trickle away, stopping completely after only a few seconds.

Milo was taking her pulse by the time the Doctor skidded to a halt in front of them. Rheia observed close behind, while Patches stood nervously to the side.

'It is faint, but she has a heartbeat,' Milo said.

'And her breath is ragged...' added Rheia.

The Doctor took her hand and rubbed it between his fingers. 'This should help...'

He pointed the sonic screwdriver at her collar. The hum it usually emitted subsided after a few moments of fiddling with the screwdriver. It's colour faded from a light blue to a dark grey just before it hissed open and fell to the floor.

Amy's eyes fluttered open drowsily before widening with alert. Abruptly she sat up and began taking in her surroundings.

'I'm definitely dead this time, aren't I?'

The Doctor's face lit up and it was his turn to throw his arms around her in relief.

'Not one bit!' he exclaimed. 'You're living, breathing and moving. Completely and 100% alive, Amy Pond!

'Ow.'

The Doctor quickly retracted his hands. 'Well, maybe not back to 100% quite yet.'

'My head kills...'

'That would be expected,' said Milo.

She smiled at the group surrounding her. 'Did you all help me escape?'

'They did,' said the Doctor, a note of serious gratitude in his voice. 'I couldn't have done it without them.'

Patches walked up to Amy cautiously, almost scared that if he got to close the pain would come back. But as soon as he was within reach she pulled him into a hug.

'Thank you all so much,' she said through the embrace.

'Well, we were sort of the reason you were here in the first place...' said Rheia.

'But you didn't have to help,' Amy said as she and Patches ended their hug. 'I mean, when I first got here you two were pretty adamant about how much less I matter than you.'

'I do still believe that,' said Rheia. 'But it is no excuse for abuse. I would honestly have no problem taking you back to the lab for research purposes-'

Amy nodded. 'Good to know.'

'-but I think there may be some people opposed to the idea...' she inclined her head less than inconspicuously toward the Doctor. Maybe a little bit to Milo as well.

'Does your neck hurt?' asked Patches. 'It's pretty red!'

'Not too bad.' She reached a hand up to feel it, but recoiled her fingers like she'd touched a hot stove. 'Ok, maybe a bit. But hey, collar's gone! That may just be the best feeling in the world. Doctor, can't you get rid of Patches collar?'

'Right, yes! Should have done it right away.'

Patches shrugged. 'It's OK, you were busy.'

The Doctor brandished the screwdriver and Patches held his head high to show him his neck. A few moments later and it clattered to the floor. Patches rubbed at the grey fur that had been matted down from the collar.

'How does it feel?' asked Amy.

'Weird! I've never not had one on before.'

Amy's eyebrows shot up. 'Really?'

'Well, I'm guessing I wasn't born with it but I don't remember never having one.' Patches turned to the Doctor, an inquisitive expression on his face. 'So, what are we doing now?'

'Yes, where are we?' asked Milo. 'We had to have gotten out of range for the collar to stop working.'

The Doctor patted the hair on the back of his head nervously. 'Do you know, I'm not entirely sure...'

Rheia rolled her eyes, the Doctor beginning to notice this was a common trait of hers. 'You are not aware of where your own ship landed?'

'I was a little preoccupied! Let's just take look...'

The Doctor ran to the console as Amy lifted herself unsteadily to her feet, Patches helping as a support. The Doctor pulled down the monitor using the side handles and stared into it.

'Ah, she reverted to the last place we were at. We're near the Strays' hideout. That's good. I won't have to go too far to drop the two of you off. And then we need to find someplace for Patches...'

Milo stepped up next to the Doctor, glancing at the monitor before addressing him. 'Wait, we are leaving? Just like that?'

'Yes. I'm getting Amy off this planet as quickly as possible.'

'Doctor, why are you acting like this all of a sudden?' Amy was slowly making her way towards them, Patches keeping an arm around her for support. 'They just helped me. They helped us!'

'And I can never even begin to express my gratitude.' The Doctor turned towards the Versutians. 'Truly, I can't. But it doesn't change what Amy went through. What I allowed to happen...'

'You did not _allow_ anything to happen to me. It just happened.'

'I couldn't protect you.'

'That wasn't your fault-'

'EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOU IS MY FAULT!'

The sudden outburst stunned her, everyone, into silence.

'Everything that you go through out here will always be my fault. Or, my pleasure. But either way, it's because of me.'

Amy shook herself out of the silence. 'Usually, I'd give you that. It's true that I wouldn't be in space, or gallivanting through time if it weren't for you. But you didn't even bring me here!'

'No. The TARDIS did.'

'What?'

'We weren't aiming for that beach. We weren't even aiming for that time period. The TARDIS must have picked up their tech somehow and jumped her location.'

Rheia and Milo exchanged a guilty look while Amy just stared, comprehending the thought.

'So you see?' the Doctor said as he huffed a tired laugh. 'It is my fault.'

The Doctor turned around, feeling the weight of everyone he had ever wronged pile up on his shoulders once again. No matter how many adventures he went on, they would always be there.

Amy's hand touched her mouth as she stood in deep concentration.

'Or...'

'Or?' asked the Doctor when she didn't finish.

'Or the TARDIS wanted us to go there. Wanted me to get captured, to get your attention. Maybe she wants you to help these people!'

'That is... highly unlikely.'

'Aha! So I might be right!'

The Doctor thought for a moment before shaking his hands violently in the air. 'No no no,' he said decidedly. 'The TARDIS doesn't always go where I want her to, but that doesn't mean she has a meaning behind it.'

'But when it does go to the wrong place, isn't there usually something strange or something you have to fix going on?'

Amy was in the Doctor's face now, staring straight at him. He played absentmindedly with the TARDIS's levers as opposed to facing her.

'I suppose, maybe...'

'So who's to say it doesn't mean to do it? You've told me the TARDIS has a soul. Maybe she wants to help the world, because she know she has a man who can do it!'

'Amy...' The Doctor stopped when Amy put her hands firmly on his shoulders.

'All I'm saying is that we should try to shut down those games. They aren't right and you know it. You're so hellbent on getting me out of here when hundreds more creatures are going to go through the same exact thing!'

The Doctor finally lifted his head to look at her, and she could see a faint smile on his lips. 'You are truly amazing, Amy Pond.'

'Why, thank you!'

The Doctor's smile grew. 'For a level four intelligence, of course.'

'Oi, watch it! I may be of level four intelligence but I could still kick some Time Lord butt.'

They laughed at themselves, both feeling like the weight of their troubles had gone away completely. For a few moments, they were just best friends on a journey.

'Uh, so... what exactly is going on?' asked Patches.

'Apparently, we're starting a revolution,' said the Doctor.

Amy smirked. 'And I know exactly where we can find some troops.'


	21. Making Peace

**Chapter 21**

The field had been closed off. It was the first time since Callidus opened that there had been such a disturbance. The area beneath the field was unreachable and no fight was going on. People were upset in the stands, screaming about the games being rigged and what would happen to their bets.

'The Ogron better have won. He was one blow away from destroying her, I better get my money!'

'Will the human still be put up for bid?'

'I hope the police do not show up!'

The man in charge of the games didn't mind what was going on. He was convinced the Time Lord and human were dead. She may have been either electrocuted or crushed by the arena, but surely she was dead. And if was anywhere near her, he was too.

But his business partner cared what was happening. If they didn't get things sorted out soon, the audience would begin to riot. He knew all to well that somewhere in the stands was his daughter, danger now too close to her for his liking.

What he didn't know was this particular girl was happy to see the human escape. She wasn't sure where she'd gone to, but the little Versutian was gleeful at the chance she was still alive.

The whole arena was bustling with noise and movement, until something began to materialise onto the field. It was a time and space machine, but most of the onlookers didn't know that. They only became quiet out of curiosity.

Out stepped the Doctor, casually walking out of the TARDIS in his tweed and bow tie as though he were an expected celebrity. To add to the rockstar look, there was a small microphone attached to his head.

'Hello everyone!' the Doctor shouted into the mouth piece, his voice echoing through the arena's speakers. 'I'm the Doctor, level nine intelligence if anyone is interested, but the point I'm trying to make is that that doesn't matter so pretend I never said anything. Are you all having a nice time at the games, eh? Well, if you answered yes to that I'm here to tell you one thing: you shouldn't be.'

The Doctor paused, allowing for some intrigued conversation to quietly shift through the crowd. He started up again, his voice booming.

'You are Versutians! A species capable of such high intellect you can build machines to see the stars when you're still children and go to the other end of the galaxy when you're an adult. You have such potential. And what are you doing with it? You force "lower species" to fight for your entertainment. Do you know what I say to that? Shame on you all! If you think you are better than a species, help it to rise up! Don't squander their own potential.'

The Doctor tapped on his TARDIS, and Rheia came out, her stigorax Luna hot at her heels. The Doctor nodded encouragingly to her, and with a gulp, she stepped forward.

'My name is Rheia Seeds and I work for the Doctrina Biological Facility. I have run tests on many of the species that I know you see in these games. But we are not cruel. You abuse these creatures for sport and it is not right! You have pets, _companions_, in your homes and then you come to see this? I would hate to see my companion here.' She leant down, rubbing Luna affectionately on the head. 'And I am guessing you would not want to see your own pets here either.'

'I can guarantee that everyone here has someone that cares about them and if you can think of one person you wouldn't like to see in these games, you may just want to re-evaluate your thought to being here,' said the Doctor.

The stands were filled with a collective mumbling. When a slow clapping filled the air, the crowd went silent. Luna growled.

'Very nice, Doctor,' said Virgil as he walked onto the field, flanked by Dash and Lycan. 'A good attempt, I applaud you! Your words are quite valiant. But that is all they are: words. You cannot change the mind of a race of people with a few words.'

The Doctor held his hands up in defeat. 'No harm in trying. But you're right, it's nearly impossible to change peoples' minds with just talking. As they say, actions speak louder than words.'

At that moment, every entrance to the field was flooded with creatures. Cat-kind, Tivolian, Ood... Hundreds of speakies that were being held just below them ran out towards the centre where the TARDIS was, creating a mob just behind it.

In the front of the group was Trig, jogging up to the Doctor as he waved the sonic screwdriver madly in the air before plopping it into the Doctor's open palm.

'Woo-hoo! That thing is amazing. It unlocked every cell and took off the collars! I only did the speakies though, letting out the others right now would probably end in a blood bath. But still, I have got to get me one of those!'

The Doctor smiled smugly at Virgil, who looked rather stunned at the appearance of the creatures. Dash and Lycan were equally as shocked, but Virgil was the only one to recover his composure.

'This is quite an inconvenience you've caused me,' said Virgil. 'But I do not really see the "actions" you were boasting of.'

'The action is in their very being. If you've seen them before they were crushed souls, now they have one ounce of freedom and I believe you can easily see the difference. I hope you all can!' The Doctors voice rang through the speakers.

The TARDIS doors then opened with their usual creakiness. Amy and Patches emerged, closely followed by a Judoon in a uniform black space suit.

'Or of course, you could just listen to Rhino-face here,' Amy said as she poked a thumb towards the Judoon.

'Virgil Callidus,' he said in a rough Judoon voice, 'you have been accused of creating organised underground fights including species of level three intelligence and above. According to the Shadow Proclamation, clause 2923, you are under arrest. Your upper atmosphere is surrounded with backup.'

'Aha! See, these big boys aren't like your police!' said the Doctor, patting the Judoon on the shoulder and earning a glare. He quickly recoiled and flashed a sheepish grin. 'They actually follow the rules. In fact, they're a bit obsessed. Went to some extremes in the past I wasn't too fond of, but for now we see eye to eye! So if you want to make it out of this alive, I suggest you call it quits and go with them.'

Virgil chuckled. 'Oh Doctor, I am not going anywhere.'

The Judoon automatically raised his gun at this, but Dash already had his out and fired. The rhino-man crashed to the ground with a loud thud and slumped over.

'What have you done?' screamed the Doctor as he inspected the Judoon. He was dead.

The creatures behind the TARDIS began getting restless. Some were nervous but most were angry.

'I know we stress intelligence quite often, but that is not only what Callidus is about,' said Virgil. He waved his hands forward and a group of gun toting Versutians came onto the field.

'It is also about strength, and those who have both will always be the victor.'

The Versutians charged straight past Virgil and towards the creatures behind the TARDIS. The Doctor braced himself for a blow from an approaching Versutian when Trig pounced onto the assailant. He ripped away the gun, beginning to chew apart the Versutian's clothes. The Doctor saw another taken down by Luna, and soon everyone was involved in the fight.

'No. No! Everyone stop fighting! We are supposed to be making peace for everybody!' shouted the Doctor, as he walked towards the battling creatures. He shouted over them, but they didn't pay him any mind.

Amy had backed up into the TARDIS, Patches holding her hand next to her. When she looked at the exit to the field, she saw Virgil running toward it, nearly there.

'Oh no you don't...' she mumbled.

'Amy?'

'You stay here, Patches. Go in the TARDIS, where it's safe.'

She sprinted after the Versutian as quick as she could. When she was off the field, her eyes glanced in both directions before catching a glimpse of his red suit and a wisp of blonde hair. By the time she caught up with him, he was getting into a small vehicle.

'You coward!' she shouted. He turned his head with a start, but seeing who it was, he smiled calmly.

'Human! Come to see me off?' he asked, coming out of the vehicle and stepping towards her.

Amy scowled. 'You sent all those people out there to fight just so you could get away?'

'Of course. I am rich dear, that is what I do.'

'Even if you do get away you broke the law. They'll be after you.'

'It will quiet down soon enough. I am sure they can be persuaded to forget about this little mishap, people always are.' He took another step in her direction. 'And when they do, I will come back, and things will be just the way they were before. Even if I did decide to retire, nothing would change. You lower species would still be the menials of the planet and we would find some way to make entertainment out of you.'

With great speed, Virgil lunged at Amy, wrapping her into a bear hug so that her arms were pinned at her sides.

'Let go of me!'

'Not quite yet. Having you in my craft may not stop the Judoon, but it will certainly slow down your Doctor!' Virgil began hauling her backwards towards his ship, and despite her struggling, he did it with ease. 'You see? The highest of beings have strength and intelligence. You poor thing, you barely have either.'

He awkwardly reached his hand out to open the door, leaving one of Amy's arms free. She seized the advantage and slammed her collar she'd been secretly clutching onto his neck, prancing out of his grip when he was distracted.

'Or maybe you're not quite as clever as you think.' Amy held up a small remote and Virgil immediately began patting down his sides to look for the item just previously in his pocket. 'I mean, being tricked by a level four twice? You may want to get yourself intelligence tested.'

'Give that to me!' he shouted.

'Sure! As soon as you turn yourself in, and tell everyone the games are off. For good.' She held out a microphone, similar to the Doctor's that he had given her.

'You idiot girl! If you think I am going to go to prison, just like that , you are out of your mind!'

Virgil was interrupted by his own screams as Amy delicately pressed her hand to the remote. She had only done it for a few seconds before he put his hands up in surrender.

'Alright, alright! Give it to me.'

She tossed the mic to him, not wanting to get too close. He caught it in between his palms and quickly switched it on.

'Hello,' his voice rang unenthusiastically through the building. 'The Callidus Games are over. Everyone go home.'

He turned it off and threw it back to Amy. 'No, no! Not like that!' She tossed it back to him.

'I did what you said.'

'No you didn't.'

'I do not know what else you want me to say.'

'You have to say who you are!' Amy said with frustration. 'The creator of the games. And that it's over for good.'

She tossed it back to him for a final time, as each time they spoke they would throw it back to the other. He now held it in his hand, and Amy saw that it was shaking with anger. She thought he may break it, so she held the remote up again to remind him what the stakes were.

'This is the creator of Callidus...' He glanced at Amy, who was giving him directions in the way of mouthing. 'Virgil Callidus. This will be the last night of the games. I am turning myself in to the Shadow Proclamation.'

* * *

In the arena, the fighting had stopped to listen to the announcement that was loudly broadcasting. When it had stopped, everyone looked at each other momentarily. The Doctor quickly deduced what was going through their minds. The Versutians were of course under employment of Virgil, and would have no desire to quarrel further with the creatures. But on the other hand, most of the speakies locked beneath the arena were probably jonesing for Versutian blood. They were about to continue when a huge silver spaceship broke into the atmosphere.

'Attention!' rang a voice, obviously Judoon, through the arena speakers which they were using to broadcast. 'All fighting will cease until we reprimand the creator of the Callidus Games and anyone who has participated in them to face the justice of the Shadow Proclamation. Spectators will not be persecuted. Anyone standing in the way of the investigation will be brought to justice.'

As soon as the their message ended, Judoons were appearing everywhere on the field by way of teleport. Everyone stood at a standstill as the men began to search the arena.

* * *

'You hear that?' said Amy. 'No escape now. All we have to do is wait here for you to be picked up.'

Virgil ignored her statement. 'Do you know what amuses me the most about you, human?' He spat the last word like he wanted to get the taste of the name off his tongue. When Amy didn't answer, he continued. 'You protest the lower species being sought over for entertainment purposes when that is, in fact, all that you are.'

'What?'

'You are the Time Lord's companion! His pet. Do you not see it? He keeps you around for his own amusement. To look impressed when he does something your mind would think of as clever, which would be of course be quite often. You are there so he has a convenient hand to help him, while not being better than him. It is exactly what many people do here!'

'He knows we're equals. He cares for me!'

'Rheia Seeds loves her stigorax. It does not mean she finds the thing her equal. You are nothing more to the Doctor than a pretty, simple minded-'

'Stop it.'

'-easy-to-keep, animal.'

'Shut up!' she shouted, and before Amy even realised what she was doing, her finger was on the remote again.

And she wasn't letting go. Amy watched as the grey man fell to the ground, writhing with the same pain she'd experienced at his hand. It gave her a great feeling of fulfilment. The thought even crossed her mind to not let go until he'd stopped breathing. He had tried to to do it to her. But she soon noticed the man was smiling, as though it all was some strange, cruel joke.

Her eyes widened with realisation. He wanted her to get upset. He wanted her to kill him. Maybe it was a better option than letting the Shadow Proclamation get a hold of him.

Her finger immediately let up on the button and he let himself crash on his stomach on the ground. His raged breathing blew strands of long blonde hair that sprawled out in front of the smile on his face as he looked past her.

'A-Amy?'

She whipped around to see her small feline friend cowering in the corner of the room, as if he'd just seen a monster. Standing next to him, with a disconcerting mix of disappointment and expectance on his face, was the Doctor.


End file.
